Vacant
by xLonelyDreamerx
Summary: There's life before Lucas, and after Lucas. The thing is, she had no idea how much trouble one person could bring. "People don't change people. Life does. Some might stay while the rest goes. [Lucaya]
1. Maya I: A sad child

**Warning: **The following story is dealing with serious issues like depression, bullying, self harm, suicide, anorexia and child neglect. If anything from these trigger you then please don't read this story.

Also there are many pairings such as: Riley/Lucas, Missy/Maya, Maya/Josh, even a hint of Riley/Maya BUT the ENDGAME is LUCAS/MAYA.

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**Summary**: "_You were right; I don't love you, you don't love me. We're just two lonely people trying to hate ourselves a little less. Maybe that's all we've ever going to be. Maybe that's all we ever were."_

**You were born broken, that's your birthright. There's no cure for that**

: In which Maya falls too many times before she learns to pick herself up

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Maya doesn't want to name it; putting on a label would make it real.

Maya had not been a smiley child, according to her mother; Katy had spent months and months trying every weird, goofy expression she could come up with just to get a little grin out of her.

She always failed.

Her father, however, didn't.

Kermit knew a spot – a light touch under her left foot – that would always get him a giggle out of her.

And it's because of that, her mother has succeeded in having few baby pictures of her smiling.

In the future, Maya thinks it's hella ironic how the man who made her laugh is the same who bitters her the most.

The first fight she remembers is when she's in kindergarten.

Her teacher, Miss Stewarts, has them drawing their family in class. Maya runs to grab as many colours as she can because despite Miss Steward's rule to _always_ _share_ no one actually does that. Once you get the crayons, they're yours for the whole day. It's a rule

She grabs a bunch of dark colours because everyone had already taken the bright ones.

Miss Stewart's is very happy with her drawing and secretly whispers in her ear it's the best in class. Maya pinkie swears not to tell the other as not to feel bad. She gives her a reward – a chocolate bar and a Sponge Bob sticker – and at home, Maya presents her drawing proudly to her mum who gives her a kiss and promises to glue it on the freezer so she can look at it every day!

Her father comes home from work an hour later and the first thing she tells him is about her drawing. Her father seems happy at first until he actually takes a look at it. His face twist in a familiar grimace.

"What the hell?"

Her mum glares at him for cursing aloud but the bomb has already been dropped.

"Katy, have you seen this?"

Something funny settles in her stomach, Maya feels anxious and wishes she hadn't said a thing

"Yeah…" her mom joins his side and looks at her drawing again with a smile. "It's us"

Her father rolls his eyes and slams the paper hard over the table, "Of course it's fucking us!"

"Kermit!" Her mom looks at her wide-eyed and tells her to go upstairs.

She obeys and rushing upstairs but at last, she chooses to sit at the top step to hear.

"I thought we agreed to no cursing!"

"How can you not see the problem, Katy?"

"It's just a drawing!

"She sees home as a prison!"

"I'm sure that's not true" Her mom's soothing tone brings tears in her eyes because she knows what is to follow.

"This is your entire fault Katherine! If you actually stayed home like a decent woman-"

"I'm working, Kermit!" Her voice becomes angrier but her dad is still louder than the both combined.

"At a theatre!"Her dad makes a sound similar to snort and she feels her heart beating faster. "Tell me, Julie Andrews, what's the latest production?"

"Fuck you, Kermit. At least I bring money home! When was the last time you took a pay check?!"

Maya brings her knees to her chest and hugs herself tightly. Rocking back and forth, she wonders which of the two will join her tonight.

Despite all the reassurance from her mom and Gammy, she's certain that their next fight is entirely her fault.

Really, if she hadn't bragged about learning the first notes of her dad's favourite song then her mother wouldn't have found out that instead of paying the bills her dad had bought himself a new guitar.

"Who is going to pay the water now?!" Her mom screeches; face red still with makeup and her latest costume from theatre.

"I'll get money by the end of the month" Her dad replies unbothered to look up.

Maya looks between them, wondering whether she should go.

"Ker-"

"I was spending some bonding time with my daughter if you don't mind." His tone sharpens and her mom looks at her startle, as if she hadn't realised she was even there.

"This isn't over."

"Sure, sure." He waves his hand and jumps at the loud bang her door makes when her mom shuts it loudly. "Good riddance, bitch" He murmurs under his breath and Maya wonders whether she should tell him it's a bad thing to call other names.

Their lessons continue and her mother gets into her first big production.

They also end up not having water for a month. Thus, they all stay at Gammy's for a while.

Her dad hates it

Riley Matthews is the weirdest girl she has ever seen.

Maya is walking outside to avoid another round of her parents fighting because going upstairs just doesn't work anymore. That's when she hears a loud voice singing

She looks up intrigued where a window is; the voice isn't very pretty but Maya is bored and lonely so despite knowing she should not spy on people she climbs up and sees a girl in a pretty dress seating near the window.

She looks up surprised, but not startled.

Maya jumps in and seats comfortably next to her. "What's up?"

"Are you a stranger?"

She gives her a weird look but nods. "Yeah!"

"Are you a stranger who climbed through my window?"

"Yep"

"And you're real?"

Maya wonders whether she's one of those people who had something wrong in their head.

"Real as pie."

"In this case…" She opens her mouth and lets out a loud scream which Maya covers quickly with her palm.

"Please don't scream. I ran away from home"

The girl mumbles something in her palm and she drops her hand. "Why?"

"My mom and dad are always fighting"

"Why?"

Maya shrugs, "Many thing; bills, mom's work, my homework… Grandma says they don't love each other anymore"

"That's silly," the girl, tells her with captaincy. "My parents love each other. When people get married, they make a promise to stay together forever, and you can't just break a promise"

Maya nods, thinking the other girl was right.

"I'm Maya by the way. Maya Penelope Hart" she corrects herself, remembering how her dad reminds her she should tell her full name.

"I'm Riley, do you wanna be friends?"

"Sure!" She looks around the room; it was prettier and much bigger than hers was. "What do you do here?"

"I sit here, and I hope... for someone to come in and sit with me"

Maya frowns at the weird girl; _Riley_, she reminds herself.

"Have you thought of going outside?"

Instead of replying, she shrugs and a male voice is suddenly heard.

"_Riley, are you okay? Who are you speaking to?"_

Maya leans forward and exclaims in a high tone, "I was talking to myself daddy!"

"_Oh, okay! Umm, have fun!"_

From beside her Riley giggles, "That was fun! But now I feel bad. We should tell him you're here."

Maya grabs her hand and sits her back down. "Easy Riles, I'm sure he'll come to check you out eventually."

"Riles?"

"Friends give each other nicknames, right?"

Riley beams and it seems easier to smile around her.

"I should give you one too! From this day you shall be known as…" Riley taps her chin thoughtfully, struggling to come up with something clever.

Maya glances around, her eyes settle at a table behind Riley, and at last, she dares to grab one fruit from the bowl.

"Peaches!" Riley exclaims excitedly, clapping her hands together.

"Original" She comments, with her mouth full of peach

Maya is a 'grumpy child' according to her Grammy but Riley is excellent at making her laugh

For her seventh birthday, her mom transfers her in Riley's school and despite missing Renee and Carla; Maya wouldn't change it for the world.

Her mom appears on tv commercial about dishes and despite claiming that 'theatre is her heart' her mom seems very proud.

Her dad also starts spending less time at home. She misses him but they don't fight so maybe it's good.

Overall, her year in 1rst grade is by far the best.

Maya is scared about her friendship with Riley.

She never admits this aloud but she's scared one day Riley will find a better friend. Someone who can get her good presents and join her at school trips, who has money to do every crazy thing she wants.

She doesn't know where those insecurities are coming from. She never felt that way about Carla or Renee. Somehow, however, Riley is still glued by her side.

By the end of the year, a kid who constantly wears turtlenecks joins her and Riley.

He invites them to his birthday party where Maya tries some sweet moves with his skateboard because back then, she thought she could be cool and beloved by all like Riley.

She hurts herself, earning a scar for the rest of her life and for the first time, she cries in front of people.

She tries not to but it's hard, not only because of the pain but because none of her parents is coming to pick her up.

Riley sits by her side despite being grossed out by blood and the birthday boy, Farkle wipes her tears and holds her hand.

"I'm so sorry, Maya"

She doesn't know why he even apologies when she's the one who was stupid enough to try to do a kick-flip off the park bench. But he stays there until Riley's mom picks them up and takes her to the hospital.

From then on, they become a trio and their group is complete.

Over the beginning of summer, Maya learns how to play _Love me_ _do_ by The Beatles. She can tell Riley doesn't really like it but she still claps excitedly. Farkle is impressed and call her Melpomene who was one of the muses in Greek Mythology. In 10th grade she finds out she was Melpomene is the protector of the tragedies. However, right now, Maya only rolls her eyes at his cheekiness

Inside her head, their screams seem like echoes. She wraps her freckled arms around her pale knees, pulls herself in until she can just pretend it's only a television show that she hears playing in the background, that the harsh words reverberating in her mind and tearing her apart don't come from her mother and her father.

Of course her parents don't notice their eight year old daughter disappearing through her cracked window.

And in New York nobody cares that there's a little girl who roams around the big scary city all by herself.

She doesn't go at Riley's because it's 3am and everyone is probably sleeping, And now with the new baby they don't need an extra burden anymore.

She pulls out her latest drawing of a woman with shiny hair and a great big smile on her lips with man and a small child in her arms. There's a certain sadness, longing maybe, forming a pit in her stomach the longer she stares at it.

She rips it apart angrily, throwing on the ground before deciding to wait on the bus stop.

Her eyes strings but she tries not to cry.

There's a distant memory, one from when she was just starting to pick up on everything around her, when her mother and father were happy or at least, when Maya thought they were. When she still had a family and a home.

A white arm appears in her view and she screams

A bird fly away and a boy joins her bench. "Easy kitty, I won't hurt you."

Maya is already on her feet and tries to make an escape but the boy who is freakishly tall catches her by the arms and holds her tightly.

"Let me go!"

"I'm just trying to help you, blonde"

She doesn't believe him and tries to kick him where Mr Matthews had taught her and Riley but the boy dodges easily.

"Look why don't we just call your parents and I'll be out of here."

Her body stops trashing around and she looks at him hesitantly. "I don't have a phone"

"I do." He frees her one arm and takes a mobile out of his pocket. "But I need you not to run away, okay? There are dangerous people on the streets"

She looks behind him when group of grownups drink around small fire they just lit up, and she nods.

"Now kitty, what's your mom's phone number?"

She shrugs as she goes back to the seat. "She doesn't have a phone"

He raises an eyebrow at that but he accepts her answer. "Your dad's?"

"I don't know it."

He sighs. "Do you know any number we could call?"

"I know Mrs Matthews"

"Okay… who is Mrs Mathews?"

"Riley's mom"

"And Riley is?"

"My best friend"

"Okay…" He rubs his eyes and give the phone to type the number.

Maya has to deal it three times when nobody answers.

"Who is this?"

Mr Mathews voice is heard, low and tired from the sleep.

"It's me, Maya."

"Maya?" He suddenly sounds more awake. "Where are you calling from? Whose number is this?"

"Umm..." She picked from beside her and whispers to the boy. "What's your name?"

Amusements dances in his dark eyes. "Leonard"

"Leonard!"

"Who the heck is Leonard?"

"A guy from the streets-" Leonard makes an indicate to give him the phone and she can hear Mr. Matthew screaming from the other line; are you okay? Has he hurt you? Can you get away from him?

Leonard explains how he found her on the bus stop alone and is waiting for someone to pick her up. He gives his directions and he shuts his phone with a thud.

"He says he'll be here in ten minutes"

"Okay"

They sit quietly for a while; the only sounds are the men's laughter and the cats who are looking for food and are fighting each other over it.

Bored she asks Leonard the reason he was outside and he confesses that he ran away from home. Maya admits she did the same because her parents' words hurt her head and heart.

Leonard opens up about his little sister who recently died from _alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma_ she forgets the word as soon as it comes but Leo explains that it's a type of cancer that was in her arms, her legs and her chest.

Maya tells him she's sorry because that's what you're supposed to say and Leo nods and says he won't return home.

"Can I stay with you?" She can't imagine he will be happy alone. Perhaps they could make a happy home together.

Leo gives her a sad smile and tells her the world isn't strong enough to handle to two thunderstorms now, but he'll be hanging out in the alleys near the subway so she can always come and see him.

Mr Matthews arrives and she barely has time to get up before he rushes towards her. He picks her from the ground and hugs her tightly, kissing the crown of her head.

Maya shuts her eyes and leans her head to his shoulder, wishing one more time for Mr Matthews to be her dad.

Her parents pick her up the next morning from Riley's. Her mom is crying and her dad yanks her ear for being so stupid to sit with a stranger.

Her mom yells at him and she feels embarrassed that the Matthews have to see her parents fighting.

Riley looks at her startled from where she's hidden and they both gasp when Mr Mathews gives her dad a punch in the eye.

(her dad give him a split lip and it's Auggie's screams and Mrs Matthews yelling that breaks the fight)

That summer the Matthews visit England for the first time. And Farkle goes to Bahamas.

Maya is invited to both but she goes to neither.

Her father left and she waits for him to come back home

The thing is, her father leaving is nothing new.

For the past few months he always left and returned few days afterwards.

_He needs his walks._ Her mother reassures her

The difference this time is he took his guitar with him.

She build up the courage one day to ask her mom the dreading question. "When will he come back?"

Her mom shrugs, her eyes are red and her lips red from drinking so much the whole week.

"I don't know"

(never, is what she meant)

That summer is her worst.

Maya turns 9 quietly and alone

Her granny, Riley and Farkle are the only ones who call her.

She doesn't tell them anything

Unknowingly, there has been a long transformation/transition between her and that man; _daddy_ becomes _dad_, and _dad_ become _father_, and _father_ becomes _Kermit_.

And her heart grows colder

A week later, he calls.

He asks for divorce papers when she answers them and doesn't ask about her.

Maya wonders when she'll see him but he hangs up.

When the papers arrive in her doorstep, her mother signs them angrily and drowns in her whisky.

It's July when she joins Carla and Renee once again. They both assume she's back to her old ways of mischief and mayhem. Renee has gotten more aggressive with breaking and now owns a bat with the letter R carved in bold ink, while Carla is still horrible at graffiti

Maya teaches her how to be steadier with the paint can and together they write few walls and run from the people who end up chasing them.

It's nothing like spending her time with Farkle and Riley but all she cares right now is forgetting the mess she has at home.

Unsurprisingly her mother gets fired and Maya learns how to pickpocket.

In her drunken haze, her mom yells at her; calling her a failure and a waste of air. She wishes she didn't exist to ruin her life.

She told Maya once that sometimes she mistakes her for her younger self and everything she says goes for herself, not Maya.

She believes her but the words still stings.

In the beginning of August, her granny returns from the vocations and everything turns upside down again.

Maya is glad her Gammy is willing to stay with them to help them but she honestly doesn't understand her methods.

The first thing she does is kick her mom out of the house to think with a better head.

During those days, Maya feels the most scared; as if her mother will disappear as quickly as her father did.

Gammy forbids her from seeing Renee and Carla again, claiming they're bad influence. And when her mother finally returns home with tears and wishes of forgiveness Gammy hugs her and tells her how stupid she has been for not telling her sooner.

"I'm a failure, Angela" she sniffs as they're hugging

Her Gammy steps back and looks at her mother straight in the eyes. "Katy, you are not a failure. You were hurt and alone with a child. We'll fix this. We don't need my good-for-nothing son," she says, squishing her shoulders

Her mother turns her head to look at her and Maya feels awkward under her gaze. She walks around and knees in front of her, taking her hand into hers. "I'm so sorry, my love."

"Is Gammy angry with me?" she asks in a small voice

"No, she's angry with me. I should have been better than let my feelings get the better of me."

"Mom…" she looks down guiltily "I know it's wrong to take things from people, but I only wanted to help you, to be less of a burden."

"You are never a burden, Maya" She places a finger under her chin and forces her to look at her. "I'll be better from now on" She promises, leaning over, giving her a kiss on her forehead with a whisper. "I love you, to the moon and back-"

"To infinity and beyond forever and ever" She finishes with a grin and her mom presses another kiss to the side of her blonde hair before getting up.

They all head to the kitchen where they throw away every bottle of alcohol in their possession

Hope floods her lungs and maybe they'll be okay

Her mom gets a job at a dinner and Gammy sells her home to move in with them. She says it's to help them with the bills but Maya knows it's to also keep a better eye on her mom who isn't really as alright as she pretends to be.

Somewhere between the start of 5th grade, her mom dates…a lot

There's Frank, John, Steve, Billie, Ed, and many more but Maya can only remember the top 5.

Steve was shocked when he first met her – probably because her mother had forgotten to mention her existence, but after their meetings he would always try to bribe her with something; food, dresses, shoes, money – as if Maya was a threat that needed to be bought.

Her mother's relationships never lasted long. She had a way of pushing men away, she thinks. But she thinks Steve was Maya's favourite. His last gift was tickets to Six Flags where Maya, Riley and Farkle went during the spring. It birthed new tradition to their little group, which included riding roller coasters, eating as much junk food as they could find and puking it afterwards before they went home.

Yes, Steve was her favourite despite his short term

Billie was an asshole and one of Maya's least favourite (on her list he's number 2, behind John but in front of Ed; he always ricked off bear and pressured her mother to be less uptight. She was in his words a 'cool kid' and he got her a candy bar once which she flossed in the toilet.

Despite his short stay (19 days) there's a war between her mom and Gammy where Maya gets the role of the messenger.

Her mother starts drinking again, Billie almost moves in with them, her Gammy is constantly angry at everyone and Maya can only wonder in what kind of house her father lives in.

During the 'Billie time' stayes mostly at Riley's and very rarely at Farkles when baby Auggie is fusing too much.

Farkle's house is huge; everyone is up very early in the morning. Mrs Farkles drinks a cup of coffee and allows Maya her first taste of the many coffees she'll be bound to have and every time they're about to leave Mr Farkle gives his wife a peak on her cheek and Maya can only wonder why she's the only one with a broken family.

The next and absolutely worst to this day is John. Or as he insists, Dr Jonathan Myers.

A handsome, young doctor (still without his office) who transforms her and her mother into a test subjects – literally, he even has files of them!

He makes her mom give up alcohol so quickly that it offends her how he - a stranger accomplishes what her and Gammy could not.

("_It's Jonathan, Maya" _Her mom reminds her firmly)

_("That's alright, Katherine. Maya Penelope will learn")_

He irks her

But he does his job. Her mother become's alcohol free, has a personal psychiatric to open her hear to, an extra help with bills because _Dr Jonathan_ is traditionalists and believes it's a man's duty to help the weaker sex, he's polite to Gammy who gives him the approval and tries to be his most helpful with her.

John sticks around the longest and perhaps that's why she ends up hating him the most; he gives her hope, a glimpse of something in the future. Yes, he's uptight, strict and sexists, and hates her art because it's 'a waste of energy' in his eyes, but he makes her mother laugh like when Kermit was around and he's always there to help her with her homework.

She makes new drawings and stupidly plays around with the words Katy Myers, Maya Myers…

She feels ridiculous when she tells everything to Riley who hugs her and comforts her with a pat on her head and sweet words in her ear, "It's never bad to have hope, peaches"

But it is, because Dr. Jonathan Myers leaves them the moment he gets a new job opportunity in San Francisco. He leaves a letter and a file with 'their progress' and recommendation of family therapists.

She travels back in time when her mom would lock herself inside her room and just stare blankly on the ceiling when her tears had run dry and there would be nothing but silence in the house. Her mom doesn't drink but something is broken inside her.

Maya learns two things; all men are assholes, and hope is for suckers.

Ed appears very late when she has completed the 5th grade.

Riley wants to spend their summer together in California and Maya for once is seriously considering going, given how much she wants to capture the beaches in her paintings.

Excitedly, they make plans of spending a day in Disneyland, admiring the Golden Gate Bridge and visiting Alcatraz Island.

But then her mother finds Ed, and after what happened with John Maya wants to watch him like a hawk.

Riley, sweet, kind, understanding, Riley nods sadly with a half smile. "Maybe next year"

"Whenever you want" Maya promises with a smile that belongs to Riley and Riley alone.

Their following year they spend their entire summer on Riley obsessing over Lucas Friar, but that's another story.

Ed is an artist.

Maya wonders whether her mother specifically searched for someone like him.

One would think they'd get along given their common interest, instead Ed is very… competitive. He asks her questions about artists, paintings, specific brushes, as if their dinner together is an exam to prove her worth rather than spending time with her mother.

Gammy says he's insecure, neurotic little twat

(Grammy is rarely wrong)

One day her mom decides it would be a great to show one another their latest work.

Maya feels uncomfortable with the thought of sharing her creation (she barely shows them to Riley) but she does her mom the favour and they exchange their pieces.

Maya gives him painting him of how she envisioned the beaches in California, with a girl (Riley) dancing in the sand, her hair in the air, hands spread open, eyes closed with a smile on her lips.

Ed gave her a painting of their street during autumn; he used pencils and went for a realistic style. It was like looking at a photograph instead of a painting. While it does make her intrigue about realism in art, the drawing doesn't give her any feelings, it doesn't move her.

Ed looks at her painting with an odd look on his face before he snaps, using his knee to break it.

Her mother looks at him in shocked as he storms of their house while Maya picks up her pieces.

Thankfully, that relationship was only 6 days so her mom doesn't look heartbroken. She hugs her – rare occurrence – and tells her how beautiful her art is, how one day she'll be someone great.

She feels her heart hurt in a good way because she can't remember the last time her mom complimented her about anything.

On the phone, Farkle suggests that Ed was jealous because he saw something in her art that he lacked off. Maya dismisses this theory because Ed is supposed to be a grown man, and her art really is barely above average.

"I wish you were less blind when it comes to your talents"

There's a pause and Maya breaks it by asking him how France is.

Frank doesn't even really deserve to be on the list due to how short his stay was, but he had some potential.

He came in the Dinner in the end of July when Maya was waiting for her mother to finish her shift.

He's not the most handsome fella but he's the most at ease, he asks permission from _her_ to take out her mom, which Maya finds a nice change, and when he picks her up he gives her mom a bouquet Tulips and a single rose to her which Maya later gives it to Gammy.

Her mom comes home happy and during their 'courtship' as Gammy likes to refer it, everything is fine; no tension or trouble.

After 4 days however, her mom mentions casually to her and Gammy while they're eating that they broke up.

Immediately, her Gammy takes action and gives her mom a hug, and words of comfort.

"There are plenty fish in the sea and there's no rush, Katy"

Her mom waves her hand dismissively, "I had enough fishing to last a lifetime, Angela"

Maya looks at her mom for a long time to determine whether she was being honest with herself.

She looks… fine. Not elated but satisfied

She doesn't know what is about her mother that drives men away but perhaps it's good that she broke up with Frank before he could leave her as well.

_So, there they were;_

_Steven, the donor_

_Billie the loser_

_John, the asshole,_

_Ed the insecure_

_And Frank with a question mark because he didn't last long enough to earn a title._

_Five men have already passed through their home, broke her mother's heart, each teaching both of them a lesson…_

_(love isn't real, hope is for suckers, men are assholes, better be alone than having to answer to anybody)_

…_and yet, her mom still murmurs her father's name in her sleep._

Riley and Farkle come back in August and they spend their entire month before middle school outdoors.

They go swimming in the community pool on weekends (where Maya and Riley teach Farkle how to swim without his armbands), and ride their bikes to the park after eating so much ice cream their stomachs ache. They end up lying in the grass with Riley's head in her lap and her back against Farkle's while they try to discover new shapes within the clouds.

Maya finds mostly geometrical shapes, Riley sees dogs, shopping bags and dolphins within the clouds, while Farkle's attempts to explain that it's not possible for the clouds to have the shapes Riley claims.

It makes her laugh when Riley starts planning their year at school before it has even started; her voice is getting low and deep as she starts daydreaming about school clubs and cheerleading and double dates with imaginary boyfriends. Maya doesn't bother telling her that Mr. Matthews won't let that happen.

She thinks she's ridiculous and beautiful and Maya thinks she'll never know someone like Riley in her entire life.

After the sun sets, they usually go back to Riley's house with sweat-slicked skin, wrinkles clothes and dirty shoes. Riley steals her first kiss and explains to her panicky self there's no better practice than with a friend.

It puzzles her because the Riley who dreams of unicorns and princesses would rather give kisses after her perfect first date to her perfect prince, and not to her best friend whose mouth still smells of the cheese sandwiches they ate earlier.

Riley begs he with wide eyes and a pout and Maya feels her heart ready to burst. Feels the danger coming.

(bad idea, bad idea, bad idea)

"Why not Farkle? He's a boy"

Riley looks at her as if she had just said the dumpiest thing in the world.

"Maya, _it's Farkle_" is all she says and it makes sense

It's so simple, being with her, letting kiss her until it becomes less awkward, less clumsy.

She'd stay over at her place some nights when Gammy would play cards with her buddies and her mom would return late at home, and the house felt too small, too cold.

Hot august is spent giggling under Riley's sheets late at night as they try to perfect their kissing skills

It's easy to allow Riley to be her escape from everything ugly in her life.

She's being used – unintentionally because Riley is an angel, and no matter how Maya tells herself that it will only last till the end of summer, her heart still beats like a hummingbird every time Riley's lips touch her.

There's life before Lucas Friar and after Lucas Friar. Thing is Maya doesn't realise how much of a problem he will be.

She spots him immediately; lonely, pretty, in the furthest seat he could possible find. He seems determine to avoid looking at anyone but the book on his lap.

_She sees him first_

Maya thinks he'd make a great painting.

"I wanna be exactly like you"

Maya frowns because she is herself and she doesn't like it, doesn't like her. Riley was perfect the way she was, she didn't need any changes.

She decides to teach Riley a lesson about boys, (in spite of not needing them because Maya will worship her like no other boy can)

She braces herself and walks confidently over him with a big smile.

"Hi, I'm Maya. You are really cute-"

And a game begins


	2. Maya II: Subway boy

The changes begins instantly.

Mr. Matthews forces her to change seats with Riley so she can seat in front of Lucas Friar.

Riley pretends it doesn't bother her, but clearly, it does.

Maya misses Farkle's presence behind her (not that she would ever admit it), she misses his nagging to keep her awake during class, or finding notes he has taken for her when she wasn't paying attention.

Now she has Lucas behind her whose presence feels bigger that it should have been. He was supposed to be 'the subway boy', a lesson for Riley and nothing else.

Instead, he starts hanging out around Farkle (and despite Farkle being one of the most amazing boys at school, guys like Lucas are not supposed to be interesting in boys like him) and Riley's eyes melt every time he speaks.

Maya vows to break him

She feels threatened.

Her and Riley are each other's worlds, and she's supposed to be one of the candidates of being the 'future Mrs Minkus'. Her roots are deeper, and yet she stills feels cold dread every time she looks at Lucas with her friends, because he completes them in a way she can't; he always appears supportive and soft spoken, with his southern charm and annoying accent.

He can't be as perfect as he looks. She knows there must be some dirt underneath and the sooner she uncovers it, the sooner Riley will stop giving him _that_ look.

* * *

Huckleberry

Ranger Rick

Sundance

Bucky McBoingboing

Maya uses all of her imagination to get a rise out of him. Instead, the cowboy only grins, and tips off his imaginary hat with a false apology.

"I'm sorry, ma'am"

* * *

She hates how selfish she feels because she misses when she used to be all Riley could see. And she hates that she hates anything that could make Riley happy. Therefore, she wears her big girl pants and pushes Riley once again towards Huckleberry when Mr. Matthews takes away their phones.

She invites him to the library and Riley spends the whole night afterwards telling her everything Lucas told her; owing 24 horses, helping bring one to life, becoming veterinarian.

Riley sounds so happy, so excited – her voice light and dazzled with something akin to wonder.

It's easier to ignore how much it hurts.

Mr. Matthews's dislike of Lucas is what calms her most of the days

"You will keep an eye on Riley all the time. You will send me messages, you will send me pictures!"

Maya would keep an eye on Riley regardless of who was targeting her but she keeps her mouth shut to not to reveal anything.

It's almost amusing to see him riled up. Ready to take Riley and lock her up in her room, away from the world, away from boys.

She shakes her head, unable to wrap her head around this. "You're really scared, aren't ya?"

"I'm a father" He says simply as if it meant something, as if it explained everything.

Perhaps, it did. Perhaps it meant something that Maya will never know. She wonders how Kermit would react to her dating – girls, boys? If he had stayed, would he be following Riley to the library, telling her to keep an eye on her?

Keep dreaming, Hart

The last time he had sent a birthday card was two years ago

"They're just friends." She shrugs, playing it cool.

"Oh believe me, I know the story."

Right, Cory and Topanga. The love story Riley waits to happen

"You're forgetting I don't have the technology"

Her mother had promised to get her a new phone – anything to motivate her to study harder – as long as she got an A.

As if

"Now you do"

He gives her more than a phone; he gives her a way to fit in, to blend better, even if he doesn't know it yet.

Maya tries hard not to tear up because it's so stupid to cry over getting a new phone.

"Thank you," she says, her voice full of emotion and he smiles, shaking his head.

"My motives are completely selfish"

She looks down on the phone; black, shiny, new and then up to his face, eyebrows furrowed in concern, a gentle smile on his lips. She fights off the urge to hug him.

"I'm not sure they are, Mr. Matthews."

* * *

With a hard wood shelf pressing against her back and the smell of aged books surrounding her, Maya finds solace in John Quincy Adam Middle School's library.

It isn't very large, and she doesn't necessarily sit in here to read (though, every once in a while the woman at the front desk wearing thin wire-framed glasses and a fake-pearl necklace will recommend her a novel)

For her, the small space offers her solitude so she can put her pencil to paper, because her house is too quiet most of the time and there are always soft murmurs around the library much to the librarian's annoyance.

It also helps that no one ever thinks to look for her here

She's just about to sneak the cold turkey sandwich from her backpack when she hears footsteps. Looking up, she stares almost imperceptibly at the boy with his hands in his pockets.

"So that's where you're hiding," Lucas says, before gesturing the mess she had made with all the papers all over the table

She just rolls her eyes, and turns her back on him as she replies, "What are you doing over here, Ranger Rick? You do know that this is a library, not your hometown's annual rodeo."

"You know, Maya, I do know what a library is," he shoots back, but she swears there's a hint of smile lacing his words. "I was just looking for you"

"Oh?"

"We need to talk about our business"

She scowls at the seriousness of his tone. "What is there to talk about? Go make them, and I'll try one when it's done"

"Oh no" She thinks that he laughs, or that he's at least suppressing laughter, "You're not taking yourself out of that one, partner"

She drops her pencil with a huff and finally gives him her attention. "You know… friends help each other"

He raises an eyebrow at that, "Oh, now we're friends?"

"We can be, if you earn it"

When he doesn't say anything else, she goes back to her sketch and he moves to the right of her, settling himself comfortably next to her.

"I think I'll take the risk and try to earn your friendship through something else another time."

She sighs. "You're an annoying huckleberry, you know that?" Gathering all of her pencils, she drops them carelessly in her backpack. "Fine, let's make those stupid muffins"

She gets up and leaves the library without sparing him a glance, knowing full well he's following

* * *

Meeting parents always turned her into a neurotic wreck; the first time she met Farkle's parents she was a stuttering mess which Farkle found adorable (she punched him in the arm the moment the word came out of his mouth. While with Mrs Friar she has done an excellent job so far, Maya is still too shy to even ask a glass of water.

Thankfully Lucas's mom is an overly sweet lady who coos and calls her a darlin' the moment she steps in. She compliments her clothes - ignoring the fact that Maya has a noticeably hole in her jeans and offers her to have her eat dinner with them once their muffins are done.

Lucas's mom sends him to buy their ingredients while they go through an old baby album of Lucas. Maya gets the pleasure of seeing his face flustered and a bit annoying before he escapes the house, practically running.

She takes a bit of pride in that.

"Is that Lucas's dad?" She asks Mrs Friar who has been insisting for over an hour to be called "Just Madi, darlin'".

Her body tenses and that should have been enough warning to stop asking any further questions, but Maya was shamelessly curious.

"Is he at work now?"

"He's going to be in Texas for a while," says with a tight smile and Maya drops her questioning, feeling uncomfortable under her intense eyes.

Their roles reverse and it's now Maya's turn to avoid answering the questions drops.

* * *

Maya hates cooking

She has some brief memories of her mom experimenting in the kitchen and her father yelling because the food tasted like crap.

Ever since Gammy came to leave with them she was the one who cooked when her mom had the money to buy enough ingredients. Otherwise, they'd usually either buy some junk food, takeout or she'd end up eating an extra dish at the Matthews.

Therefore, Maya never claimed to be familiar with the territory that is the kitchen, unless it was to grab food instead of making it.

"Maya, no" It's the seventh time she hears those words and she swears her ears will start bleeding soon. "That's plain flour, you need baking flour"

"What's the freaking difference? They're both white!" she yells, frustrated, because that's not how her afternoon was supposed to go.

Loud footsteps are heard before a sweet voice breaks their tension. "Kids, is everything alright?

Lucas points at her direction with his finger (where her ass is propped up on his kitchen counter and her feet are swaying with no care in the world) and she crosses her arms in defence as he exclaims. "She doesn't know the difference between baking and plain flour!"

Her cheeks burn as she's hit with the sudden feeling of embarrassment. Maya looks down at her feet, avoiding Mrs Friar's concerning eyes

"We don't really cook at home," She murmurs and the woman's eyes soften significantly

"Lucas, I've raised you better," Mrs. Friar puts her hands on her hips, throwing him a glare.

"I'm sorry, mamma"

"And?" she pressures, her eyes flashing with a warning

"I'm sorry, Maya"

"Good" She nods, satisfied. "Now, you two, cooking isn't just following the recipe. It's about creating a taste you want."

An epiphany comes to her. "Like art"

"Exactly!" Lucas's mom smiles proudly. "Now, if I hear more yelling I'm throwing you in the shed, boy. Maya is our guest and I expect you to behave accordingly."

Lucas lowers his head and nods with a pout. "Yes, mamma"

When leaves, they head back to work; Maya's trying to mix the baking flour and Lucas is unsuccessfully breaking eggs.

"We can switch if you want to?" She offers

"Alright"

For the next ten minutes they don't talk. Maya cracks the eggs perfectly before throwing them in the mixer. He yells at her this time a bit more quietly when she attempts (and fails) to stick her finger in the muffin batter to get a taste ("Have you even wash your hands Maya?"). For some reason it lifts up her mood to see him so annoyed.

When they finally put the muffins inside the oven Lucas speaks again, this time with a tone more regretful.

"I'm really sorry about before Maya"

"Don't get your panties in a twist, Huckleberry." Moving toward the sink, Maya chooses to wash everything they used to make the muffins to keep herself busy and to shut him up for calling her lazy before.

"You don't have to do that-"

"Believe it or not, cowboy I do know how to wash the dishes"

"I meant acting all tough"

She scoffs that that. "Who's saying I'm acting? I'm just insensitive, if that means I'm tough then so be it"

Lucas chuckles as he joins her and opts to dry the dishes with the towel. "Riley was right, you are stubborn"

She blinks and looks at him surprised. "Riley talks about me?" She imagines Riley would bring up a better topic to keep Lucas interested in her.

He shrugs, coming of cool when he's clearly amused. "You are her favourite subject."

This time she can't contain a smile. "Yeah, I'm lucky to have her."

Lucas returns the smile and damn, she can see why Riley is so obsessed with him.

"So, how did you two met?"

"I was walking around one day when I heard the ugliest singing voice – it was like someone was killing a cat!" She laughs as she recalls. "I climbed up and saw a pretty girl singing all alone in her bedroom."

"Quite the little criminal you were." Lucas jokes and she doesn't bother correcting him since he was more right than he realised. "And what exactly were you doing alone?"

"Trying to escape from the mess at home"

"Mess?" he questions, seeming almost... concerned. She wonders whether he was faking in order to not to make her feel sad or if nobody actually managed to spread gossip in his ears about her home life.

"...and then there she was, hoping for someone to come in and sit with her" She continues instead of replying.

"She said that?"

"Yep"

"Had she considered…I don't know, going outside perhaps?"

"That's exactly what I told her"

Once they're done with the dishes Maya sits comfortably in one of the chairs around the kitchen table. Lucas offers her a glass of orange juice which she accepts. As she takes a sip, Lucas sits in front of her and stares.

"What?"

"You know, I was terrified of being your partner in this project but I had fun" Lucas explains with a proud little grin

She swallows and places the glass of juice on the table. "Yeah, well, don't get used to it."

He laughs off at her warning and she frowns at the sudden smell. "What is-"

His eyes widen almost comically before jumping up and running to the oven. "The muffins!"

Maya relaxes, settling back in the chair. "So much for being a mini master chef, huh, chief?"

Lucas tries to take the muffins out with a towel but it must still be too hot, because he throws them over the table and curses before he draws his hand close to his chest, cuddling it.

She can't help the hysteric laugh, no matter how much she tries to keep it in.

Lucas glares at her as if she was the one who burnt his hand. "Instead of laughing why don't you do something?" He didn't wait for her response before he yelled, "Mom!"

"Oh shut up you big baby" She gets up and drags him in the sink.

"What are you- agh!"

She pushes him back against the kitchen counter and holds his hand tightly as the cold water keeps touching him. After few seconds, he stops struggling and she lets him go.

"This actually feels good" He sighs in relief, supporting himself against the counter with one arm.

"Water always feels good." Maya decides to grab one of the muffins and after blowing some air to cool it a bit, she takes a large bite and makes a grimace as she swallows.

Lucas watches her with a frown, "what?"

She looks down at the rest of the muffin in disgust. "If this is art, then it tastes like shit"

So of course, it's no surprise when Farkle and Riley's muffins end up being the better ones.

* * *

The muffins are such a failure that not even Gammy wants to buy one

At school, people throw a muffin at her head as they try to sell together but granted, they fail.

She thinks it's because of his Cornucopia Dreams of saving the world one muffin at a time. She expresses this to him and he laughs.

Something snaps inside her and her face is close to his in an instant; it's the first time she notices how smooth his skin is, or what a beautiful shade of green he has in his eyes (not faded like his mom's, mixed with hazel brown) and crap, those muffins have really messed up with her head.

She pushes him away and she tells herself warily that it's never going to happen again.

But it does happen as he asks Riley if he can have a job with her.

It happens again without a thought. Her face is so close to his as she fires him before she walks away briskly, with a smile on her face as he says only once, "Yeah, I had that coming"

She walks alongside Riley, with their arms linked together as his laugh echoes behind them and the two are destiny for the stars

_Or so she believes_

* * *

She can't help but see Lucas in a different light after that. Because perhaps, for once in her life, hopeful, naive, sweet Riley might be right for one thing; Lucas Friar is a dream.

Maya can only hope he won't turn into a nightmare

(_love isn't real, hope is for suckers, men are assholes, better be alone than having to answer to_ _anybody_)

* * *

One dot to the left, one to the right, a line that curves upwards; a smiling face made by peanut butter.

"I'm so sorry, baby girl"

Maya looks down at the plain steamed okra standing up in nearly unreconstructed peanut butter like whiskers sticking out of a wart and shivers in repulse. "We could have just made toasts, mom"

"I was talking about career day. Gammy told me it was today"

Maya looks at her Gammy who is suddenly preoccupied with slicing a piece of bread. "Traitor" she accuses with a glare. "It's okay, mom, you never come"

"I can come tomorrow!" Her mother suggests hopefully but Maya dismisses the idea – it would be too awkward to be the only child whose mother came to explain her career a day late.

"We have a test tomorrow" she lies, erasing her little smiley face with the fork.

"Oh," her shoulders drop n disappointment and Maya bites the inside of her cheek

"There's a school exhibit this Friday. You can pass by if you are not too busy…"

"I will!" Her mother grins, excited. "I promise to be the first person to be there."

Her heart clenches at that, and Maya tries to remember no to be hopeful.

Damn it! Riley's optimism is rubbing off

"Angela, we can go together"

Gammy looks at her apologetically. "With those old bones?" She points at her body and makes a disapproving sound. "I don't think so. Plus, why drag my ass there when I can see them at home?"

Her mom complains about foul language and her Gammy about foul food. Maya laughs for the rest of the night and calls Riley excited to tell her.

"Bravo Maya!" Riley congratulates her proudly and she can almost see her grinning from ear to ear. "You'll see, this time she'll definitely be there!" She assures her firmly and Maya believes her

* * *

(her mom gives her a melt sandwich as an apology for not showing up. Maya eats it, despite tasting like ash in her mouth, as she watches Riley going back and forth about how unbelievable her mother is)

* * *

The day Lucas Friar gets her official approval is when he's ready to beat up Billy Ross for making fun of Farkle. She can see in Riley's eyes the astonishment because of his actions

Maya jumps on his back without thinking and holds herself for dear life since he's so much taller than her.

"I thought this is what you wanted, Maya!"

Her grip tightens despite the fact that she wanted nothing more than to let him loose. As much as she'd love to see Billy's face on the floor this isn't the Ranger Rick who smiles at her teasing and shoots back with witty comebacks. She holds him back just like he did earlier that day and for now, they're even.

"He wants you to be like him. Are you gonna let that happen?"

He doesn't. Later in class, Riley comes up with the idea to have everyone write a label on their forehead, describing their "flaw". She feels ridiculous and a bit exposed the moment she gets the big capital words on her forehead; BROKEN, and she raises one eyebrow at Lucas's choice of words however.

"Mr. Perfect," she muses, slowly, testing the words in her mouth as her other classmates are passing around the black mark to write.

"Admitting it means owning it," he replies casually, with a slight smile and she narrows her eyes. Maya knows he's anything but comfortable.

"You know huckleberry…" she trails off, hopping to sound as aloof as possible. " once told me that art shows you that there is no perfection. There is light, and there is shadow... and everything is in half tint."

He draws back, looking impressed and touched, "Wow Maya"

"Don't drop your lasso cowboy"

He laughs and shakes his head as he leans forward with a real smile this time. He supports his chin on his fist and observes her as if she's some odd specimen. "Never change, Maya"

She gulps nervously and tries to laugh it off. "Can't do the impossible!"

"I never really thanked you, did I?" He asks in wonder, and explains upon seeing her puzzled face. "For stopping me, I don't think I would have without you…"

He tries to form the words carefully as if afraid to say too much. "You acted like a normal guy for once, that's hardly bad. Keep your thanks. I'll retrieve the favour when it's time"

He grins and open his mouth ready to respond but Riley cuts his off, announcing that Billy is coming.

* * *

Riley would make a horrible president

That doesn't stop Maya from trying to make her dream come true.

Okay, so maybe Lucas is the better option when you have a dictator (Farkle) or a wannabe princess (Riley) as an alternative option.

And maybe Maya should learn to say 'no' to Riley from time to time (yeah good luck with that one) but just because she's on the way of accepting that Riley will never see her as anything more than a friend it does't mean that Maya still won't turn the world upside down just to make her happy.

God, she's pathetic

"You have to return it back at seven sharp, okay?" Leo warns her, not taking his eyes off the cash.

Maya caresses the mane of the beautiful white horse, feeling a bit surreal that the animal was actually next to her. "I can't believe you found it so fast"

Leo shrugs and puts the money inside his pocket. "When you live outside the subway, you meet a lot of people, kitty. Just remember back by seven"

"Yeah, yeah." Her nose wrinkles a bit and she can't help looking at him with distaste. "When was the last time you took a shower?"

"When was the last time you took an A" He fires back, not really offended

"Touché" She pats the horse and tries to lead it towards the direction of Riley's house but Leo stops her with a short, "I'll do it."

They walk around the streets of New York slowly, not wanting to do anything that could upset the horse. They get a lot of odd looks on their way and some tourists even want to take few pictures with animal (Maya and Leo charge them 40$ and split it in half).

"So, how's work at the McDonalds? Have you learnt the secret recipe of krabby patty, yet?"

He laughs, throwing his head back. "Nah, I was too much like Squidward, and Mr. Krabs couldn't keep me"

Her steps slow down and it takes him about five minutes to realise she and the horse are no longer along with him.

"What's wrong?"

"You got fired?" She asks, clearly upset at the news. Her mom had helped getting him the job much to her disapproval. None of the adults (her mom, Mr and Mrs Matthews, Gammy) had approved of her friendship with Leo. Even Riley had expressed concerns in the past.

"All, I'm saying, peaches, is that you should be careful with the people you trust."

Maya agreed with her but Leo was harmless, he was one of the few good guys that life loves screwing over. He had never returned home – or at least he claims not to, and nobody ever seeked him out. He always moved from job to job, one more ridiculous than the other and she couldn't help wondering if one day she'd share the same experiences for different reasons.

Every day she would bring him the extra food Mrs Thomson would give her, and from time to time, – when Gammy was off playing poker – she would sneak him inside the house and let him shower.

He always loved making her promises like how one day his life would get better; he'd get a job, and move somewhere better, he'd earn a degree from some college and meet some girl he'd end up being married to.

They both knew those thoughts were mostly delusions rather than optimism. But Maya still wanted to see her friend sleep in something better than a box outside the subway.

"You said you would try this time." She says quietly, not looking at him.

"And I did, Maya, I swear."

"Whatever" She didn't want to listen to new excuses. With Leo, it was always someone else's fault

He presses his lips together and nods before they start walking again; this time in awkward silence.

* * *

Riley squeals the moment she sees the horse.

"You are the most incredible person in the world! No, in the universe!" She exclaims with a huge smile, before cooing and poking the horse.

Maya tries in vain not to blush and opts to explain about their new strategy instead.

"You have to give something to people-"

"I'm giving them a piece of magic," Riley points at the poor horse that was condemned to wear a fake horn.

Maya grimaces, feeling a stab of pity for the poor animal regardless that originally it was her idea. "Riley, not everyone gives a crap about your unicorn; it's to serve an image not a promise"

Riley frowns, "So, what am I supposed to promise?"

"I don't know…" She takes one of the tiny fake flowers and places it carefully on the mane of the mare; Riley had wanted to make it look as magical as possible, thus adding plastic flowers and sparkle. "What would you vote for?"

Her shoulders drop and Riley gives out a huff. "I just want to be a princess, Maya"

She rolls her eyes at that and scratches the back of her head; what would she vote for? No more annoying teachers? Impossible. Better food at school? There's only so much Mrs Thomson can do in one day. Suddenly the idea came

"No homework" She says joyfully

"Oh no" Astonishment colours her voice. "You are no doing that again" Riley says, this time more firmly.

Oh right, her little rebellion. No homework, more freedom.

Her gammy had applaud her for following her beliefs and passions, her mom had not been amused

"This one is different," Maya insists. "Listen, how about this; no homework on Fridays"

Riley's eyebrows rise up significantly. "Only on Fridays?"

"Yep" She smiles, a bit proud of her idea.

Riley just looks confused, "Why Friday?"

"Last day of the week? Oh, c'mon Riley. It's a good idea!"

"Let's just show them the horse first," Riley suggests patting the mare gently and shrinks back when it makes a sound. "It might be enough"

Maya rolls her eyes and nods, annoyed

* * *

People are hard to please nowadays.

Nobody is impressed with the horse slash fake unicorn except from Janitor Harley when the white mare poops in the corridor

Instead, Farkle has bought himself a small army and has decided to play dirty.

Had she not been running with Riley, she would have been amused at his ways and perhaps even laughed at the idea of him being a dictator

"It's amazing what people will believe" Riley murmurs once she's done with her little passionate speech, returning back to her seat next to her.

She exhales sharply and gets up, wishing they had gone with the 'no homework on Fridays' instead.

"He spies on us, he'll spy on all of you! I bet there are cameras on all of you right now! What you have to decide is if you want to live in a magical kingdom," She waves her hand in exaggeration towards Riley's direction. "Or a police state-"

"Hey, cut it out!" Lucas's voice snaps like a whip, and she blinks, almost stunned for a moment. "Friends don't attack each other." He says tightly before taking a deep breath and continues in a sudden calm tone, "No going after Farkle"

Her eyes narrow a bit but she easily agrees with him. "Okay, moral compass, I promise we won't go after Farkle."

He sits straighter with a proud smile. "Good. Thank you"

She returns it back with a sharp one and he blinks - a bit afraid. Good. She waits until the bell rings when everyone's is out of class and Riley takes her sweet time like always to organise her backpack.

"We're going after Lucas"

Riley doesn't even look up, instead she's still focusing on a little dust there is on her yellow case. "Why?"

"Farkle is nothing without his army." She explains, feeling a satisfying tingle at the thought of the boys' future loss. "Lucas is the competition now."

Riley huffs in annoyance, whether towards her or the dust that doesn't seem to come off no matter how hard she tries to rub it off, Maya isn't sure. "I'm not attacking Lucas"

"You don't have to do anything-"

"No"

Maya moves forwards, grabbing the yellow case and throwing it carelessly inside Riley's bag. Her friend protests but Maya ignores her and puts a finger under her chin to look at her. "Riley, this is your last chance to be a princess." It's a bit low for her to play at Riley's little daydreams but she convinces herself with imagining how happy she'll be once she gets elected. "Everybody's got something they're hiding, even Lucas and I'm gonna find out what it is."

Riley sighs i defeat, and grabs her hand. "Maya if you do?"

"Yeah?"

She gives her a squeeze and pleads her with her doe eyes. "Don't tell me"

"Why not?" Her brows furrows and Maya gave her shoulder a playful nudge. "Are you afraid Prince Charming isn't so perfect?" She teases her with impish smirk.

Riley presses her lips together and doesn't respond

And perhaps that's all the answer she needs


	3. Maya III: A cowboy's secret

**A/N**: Howdy, y'all, I try to update once a week but this chapter got twice the size I usually write (almost 10k) so instead of splitting it I decided to posted all together. I hope you don't mind

* * *

Maya leads an investigation that would put Sherlock Holmes to shame.

With that being said, she's not as successful as the fictional detective would be.

She asks the nerds who take about ten minutes to reply under her aggressive tone, she questions Missy whose reply was, "Of course there's something wrong with this guy, he chose your mousy friend over this" she gestures her body and Maya ignores her. She goes for his teammates who only sing praises for him; at last, she tries to fish Mr. Matthews, thinking he could know something since he had access to his records.

Mr. Matthews: the Teacher says she shouldn't try and play dirty, Mr. Matthews the Parent tries to give her a hint about his home life and after a lot of pressure and effort from her part it finally slips that his parents had recently gotten a divorce. Maya raises one eyebrow at that and almost face palm herself when she remembers how tense Lucas's mother was when she brought up her husband.

Regardless of how odd it was learn that Mr. Perfect's family isn't so perfect after all, divorce parents were hardly a scandal to make him lose votes.

Maya uses the big guns and after school, she corners Brandon– commonly known as The Rebel, around the lockers.

"So…" Maya trails of, twirling a little curl around her finger as she leans against the lockers. "What do you do after school?" She asks in an overly sweet tone, with a smile gracing her lips.

Brandon doesn't turn around but even from the sides she can see his lips curling up into a smirk.

"He's theoretically squeaky clean"

"What?"

With a roll of his eyes, he slams his locker and copies her; he makes himself comfortable next to her and she knows if anyone were to see them like this, they would get the wrong idea.

"I know you've been going around the school all the day, trying to fish info about our future President pretty boy"

Her grip tightens around her backpack. "Who told you?"

"No one" He shrugs nonchalantly, "I just noticed you were on edge today and then I overheard you asking Melisa Parker so I figured"

She sighs and almost turns around to leave when she remembers, "You said he's theoretically squeaky clean. What did you mean?"

He nods at her, impressed. "Very good. If you were as observant in class as you were here, you wouldn't have such bad grades."

You know you reach a new low when one of the bad boys in class actually chastises you for sucking at studying.

"This is important. If you know something-"

"I don't," he cuts her off,

At her frown, he pushed himself forward and started walking away. She followed beside him, hardly keeping up with him at his fast swiftness.

"Friar is...nondescript; most of the time he acts like this nice, good kid who you're gonna tell your whole life story to, and then he does stuff like..."

"Like..." she echoes

"Last week, during the game Friar pushed someone so hard he almost knocked him out. He apologised endlessly of course-"

"So? He's a bit strong" She still remembers the time he picked her up to stop her from finding out who Farkle's bully was. He had lifted her up so easily as if she was a feather.

"It's more than that" He insists. "It's like, sometimes, when something happens he gets this look on his face..." Brandon shakes his head, "As if he'll snap - like a ticking bomb. I'm surprised he still keeps up with your name calling"

She ignores the last part. "Are you afraid of him or something?" When determined to find some dirt on him, Maya expected to hear something less dramatic like hating certain classmates or being an asshole to his teammates, having an ego to the size of Texas, not him being a scary guy

"No!" Brandon glares at her for a second before pausing. "Well, it was nice talking to you Hart, but I gotta go to class-"

"Wait!" she grabs him by the wrist, ignoring some of the looks she starts getting. "You didn't tell me anything I-"

"He's a fake!" Brandon snaps, his voice though low held a cold tone she had only heard him using it on certain people. They got along usually, given their common need for mischief and chaos. "He has this southern charm on that seems to blind literally everyone at this school! I know a pretender when I see one, and frankly, he disgusts me."

Surprised, she takes a step back, freeing his wrist from her grip. She stares at him in shock and disbelief. "Where is this coming from?" she asks in an uncharacteristically small voice, and she hates how Brandon of all people is able to get her to be like that.

He gives out a heavy sigh, and eyes her up and down carefully. "If you wanna find out anything meaningful about Friar, try to catch him when he's on the phone, he's usually in a sour mood afterwards. If you add your shitty flirting you might actually have a shot"

She draws back and looks at him in repulse. "I don't flirt with him" she spats, as if tasting something bad.

"Sure, sure" He opens his backpack and pulls out a little black device. "Here, if you're too worried about pissing off your princess, you can just record Friar."

"Why do you even carry a recorder around school?"

He gives her a look she's familiar with, she uses it most of the time; don't ask questions whose answers you're not going to like.

She takes the little device hesitantly from his hands. "Can I at least ask why do you even care?"

"Same as yours; curiosity"

"I'm not curious; I'm only doing this to help-"

"To help your little princess, I know" He waves a hand in the air, dismissing her. "But you have to admit Hart, admit this to me, at least. People like us, born at the wrong side of the tracks" He points at the empty space between them. "It gives us a satisfying burn to see a flawless mirror crack. There's a beauty, a thrill if you will, at seeing a taint within perfection. Am I right?"

Maya can't say anything at that

* * *

School is almost over for the day and Maya is not ready to admit defeat.

Other than her talk with Brandon nobody had to say anything bad about Lucas Friar.

Although pointless, Maya divulges everything she didn't find to Riley who beams and says so joyfully. "Good"

Maya doesn't necessarily believes in good or bad luck, but when Lucas storms in, phone in hand, ignoring their greetings with an upset look on his face Maya promises to herself she might reconsider.

Both Riley and her venture towards him quietly. She digs her hand inside her pocket and turns on Brandon's recorder, hoping what he had said wasn't bullshit based on some petty jealousy towards Lucas.

"I don't understand why I can't go back this weekend, sir"

Lucas's distraught voice snapped her out of her thoughts. His back was on them, and one hand was holding the phone while another was holding the backpack so tight that his knuckles was turning pale as each minute passed

"Will you listen to me? No, I'm not shouting but I'm trying to explain-"

He inhales a deep breath and pauses for a moment. Riley and her exchange a look and she glances at his tensed back, feeling a knot in her stomach.

"Texas is my home – Don't bring mamma into this! You told me I could see my friends on weekends if I wanted to and I wanna see my friends!"

He sighs and rubs his hand in the back of his neck as he waited for response.

By the way the conversation was going she wondered what kind of man Mr. Friar was.

"Yes, I have friends here, but with the elections… I'll try... Yeah, I'm sorry too, sir, but I was the one who didn't want to come to this school in the first place. If you had actually tried to fix-"

His voice stops midway as soon as he spots them.

"I have to go now,"

He put his phone In the back of his jeans and strolls slowly towards them with an odd look on his face.

She examines him suspiciously; Brandon's words echoing louder than ever in the back of her mind.

"I suppose you guys will be using that against me"

Riley shakes her head, looking at him with wide eyes full of concern. "I would never-"

Maya interrupts her, raising a finger in the air. "Quiet, princess"

With a jump from where she was sitting, Maya stands up straight; there's some anger piling up inside her chest the more she looks at him. She hates how sad and defeated he appears. Therefore, Maya does the only thing she knows how to do with Lucas.

She strikes

"What, that you don't want to be in our class? How would that affect you – running for president of our class?"

"Don't worry." Riley reassures him without even looking at her. "It's only her word against yours."

Her mood gets worse at Riley's dismissive tone and Maya opts to feel more angry than hurt over the fact that her best friend, her Riley, wouldn't even back up her side.

"Unless I had some kind of, like electronic listening device…" She pulls out the recorder, smirking at Riley's astonished face. "Oh! Look at that! Boopity beep boop bop bing!" She presses the button, and Luca's voice feels their silence.

"Texas is my home-"

She turns it off and looks at him smugly, waiting for him to do something; take it from her, beg her no to use it, yell for violating his privacy…

What she doesn't see coming is his facing dropping and walking away from them, looking so pathetically sad as if he had come out from a Nicholas Spark's movie.

What the hell?

She swallows as she watching him until he's out from her sight, trying to ignore the stone of guilt that settles in her stomach. She hasn't done anything wrong! She tries to ensure herself mentally. It was just a stupid election for middle school, for Christ sake! Things weren't so serious!

" Maya get rid of it!" Riley's commanding voice snaps her out of her inner battle and her face hardens as she thinks how unfair Riley is with her.

"Riley, we got him. You wanted to be a princess and I'm almost close enough to make it happen" She tries to justify. "Don't worry, I know exactly what we're gonna do."

She nods with a big smile that almost strikes her, it's easy to forget being angry at Riley when she smiles at her like that. Maya begins to smile back when she says, "So do I"

Faster than she could react, Riley pulls the recorder out of her grasp and throws it hard on the ground and it makes a harsh sound that can't be good. Still not satisfied, Maya can only watch her best friend with her mouth dropped as she jumps and crushes the expensive device with her boots.

"What the hell?!" She finally cries out as soon as the shock leaves her

"There" Riley steps back and rests her hands on hips as she stares at the poor broken device with a satisfy gleam and a smile full of relief. "Dealt with"

It was rare for her to ever get seriously angry at Riley because nothing was ever worth enough to keep her away, but as she opens her mouth to justifies herself, how unfair, and horrible and cruel Maya was for trying to get poor Lucas out of the way like that, something cracks inside her.

Her voice is almost a whisper in her ears as her knuckles turn white from clenching her fist too hard, and her teeth hurt from gritting so much as an effort to remain silent.

She can almost feel her face turning red with suppressed rage, and when Riley sets a hand on her shoulder, finishing her 'Maya, you're awful' speech with "We should find Lucas and you must apologize." she swings around and finally snaps.

"Are you fucking kidding me!" She ignores the people, who stop walking to watch the sudden drama unfold, and she ignores the soft gasp that leaves Riley's mouth; she was always careful not to curse around her since she hates but at this point Maya was a goner.

"After drawing a thousand posters in one night - and my hand still hurts, by the way. After making your video, renting a freaking horse, asking around every loser to fish out information, that's the thank you I get?!"

Riley is stares at her speechless before she lets out a soft, "Maya" but she ignores it. "I did all of this for you! To make your dream come true because I love you so much but-"

"I love you too, Peaches" Riley attempts to respond but Maya scoffs and looks away, trying to hold her tears to remain in her eyes. "I wasn't trying to hurt you, I ap-"

"Girls, what's going on?" Mr. Matthews comes between them, looking at once Riley's teary face and then her own. "Are you two fighting?" He asks, shocked.

Maya shakes her and with a sniff, she wipes angrily few stupid tears that had ran down on her cheeks.

"In politics, you're supposed to play dirty – just like in real life" She tells Riley, without looking at Mr. Matthews. "There're no unicorns, fairies, or pixie dust. Come find me when you grow up, princess"

She turns around and almost runs, ignoring completely Riley's protests and Mr. Matthews's questions.

Their words falling on deaf ears

* * *

She slams her house door harshly with a bang and rushes upstairs to her room, ignoring her Gammy's greetings and the scent of soup.

She throws down her bag angrily, and she's pretty certain something breaks inside but Maya can only jump on her bed and bury her face to one of her fluffy pillows.

She sobs her heart out because her life sucks; all of her work went down to the toilet, the girl she's in love with doesn't love her back, and she's pretty certain Lucas must hate her right now.

Awful, horrible, cruel

The words Riley used earlier echo in her head and she cries harder.

And as if the whole day wasn't bad enough, she comes home and found her Gammy cooking soup. She hates soup.

Her bedroom door open with a crack, and she stills for a moment.

"May-May, can you save me this number on my phone because I don't know how?"

She raises herself a bit and turns around, hoping that her face is not a mess, she murmurs a quiet, "Sure" and she starts typing after asking what name her Gammy wanted.

"Eric Gilbert," She says with a grin, and the sight of her Gammy this happy makes everything go away. "I got a hot date for Saturday!" she announces with a wink. "Don't tell your mother though, I don't want her to get jealous," she jokes.

Her lips curl upwards for a second and she hands the phone back before laying back down, this time facing the shelling instead of her pillowcase.

"Now," she settles herself more comfortably and Maya should have known better than to think she would let it go. "Tell me, whose face should I break for making my Punkin-pie cry?"

The familiar nickname spreads warmth inside her. "I doubt you would punch Riley. You love her too much"

"Riley, huh?" Gammy doesn't sound surprise by that but there's something in her voice that makes Maya look at her. "Does it have to do with a boy?" She asks serious, no hint of teasing anywhere on her face.

"Not, the way you'd think." They stay both silent and Maya is more familiar with this game; one of them is supposed to crack and pour her heart out. Of course she always loses.

After few minutes, Maya sighs and looks back at her plain, white shelling. She had been wanting to paint her room for too long, but there were no money for that.

She tells her Gammy everything; about subway boy who turned out to be the new kid in class, Riley's stupid obsession, and finally everything about the elections: posters, painting, writing speeches, filming a video, asking Leo for a horse (Gammy laughs at how far she went), investigating Lucas, and finally the recorder.

"You know what I think the problem is?" Gammy doesn't let her answer. "I think you're more hurt because you're jealous of sweet Riley's strong feelings for this Lucas, rather than the effort you wasted."

Her fingers start playing around with the blanket due to her nervousness. "Why would I even be jealous of Lucas?" She scoffs, "For his stupid accent, or his ridiculous manners or-"

"Riley's strong feeling for him?" Gammy looks at her knowingly, and she rests her wrinkle hand over her chest where her heart is. "You silly goose, you think I wouldn't notice my little love having her first crush?"

Her breathing becomes uneasy and she stutters, "Y-you have?"

Gammy shakes her head and her hand moves up to her cheek, forcing her to look into her eyes; blue like hers. "When you were a little bean, you came to me one day and announced that you would marry Riley because a best friend can never break your heart and there's no one better than Riley anyway."

She can't believe she remembers that. "And you said I should focus on Farkle."

Her Gammy always adored Farkle above every one of her friends – even Riley.

"Because he's a very smart and loyal boy and I'm sure one day he'll make a girl very happy. You can't blame your poor grandma for wanting that girl to be you." She says with a pout, "I will always want the best for you."

Maya looks down at her lap, "So… y-you don't mind that I also like… girls?"

"Of course not!" Her exclaim makes Maya jump. "Back before I married your stupid grandpa, I had kissed my fair of girls. Especially during the Women Strike for Peace"

"Really?"

"Yes, really." Gammy's smile fades a bit and her hand falls down to grasp her own. "Let me tell you something, sweetheart. Every time that you get hurt or break your heart, there is something somewhere being written to make up for it, because all good things must happen to good people."

"And am I good?"

Awful, horrible, cruel

"You are a brilliant little star, May-May."

Maya moves forwards and hugs her Gammy tightly. It's so easy to forget how precious and understanding Gammy can be. "Thanks, Gammy"

She can feel her laugh under her and a hand pats her head. "You're welcome, bunny"

"Now," Gammy starts as soon as she pulls back. "Listening to somebody's private conversation is wrong"

Maya nods, looking down at her hands, she remembers Mr. Matthews words from the first week of school. "Because you go too far"

"I went too far"

Gammy doesn't disagree. She cups her chin and forces her to look up; there was always something compelling with Gammy's eyes, so similar and yet different from her own. Gammy's eyes held playfulness and wisdom; they were a tiny window to reach the woman's old soul. Maya always wondered whether she could be so easily read as well.

"You know how difficult it is to change schools. When your mother enrolled you to Riley's you had a hard time adjusting regardless of how happy you were. Now imagine this boy, away from the city he knew, the friends he had, in a new school, hoping to be able to fit in."

She was right, Maya knew she was. But it was so easy to dismiss any thoughts on Lucas's way of adjusting because he could get along with everyone. So many people liked him; girls, boys, even the teachers! He was one of the good kids who actually had a future.

That's why it was a bit hard to imagine he could ever have a problem with anything at school.

"I was cruel…"

"No, not cruel!" Gammy protests, "You can never be cruel, May-May. Sometimes you're a bit… impulsive. Just like the donkey you have for a father"

She gulps

"And the name calling?" Gammy continues, "It might be fun but you, of all people, should know better than that."

Of course, she knew. Just because she pretended not to hear and she played it off cool didn't mean Maya didn't know all the stuff the kids were saying about her. But that was nothing compared to what she had with Lucas!

"He knows I'm teasing-"

"Does he?"

"He plays along!" Maya protests; feeling suddenly anxious at the thought that she might be hurting the cowboy all along.

"Perhaps he doesn't want to lose you as a friend." Gammy suggests gently. "Regardless, Riley was right for one thing, you should apologise to the boy."

Maya bites her lower lips as thoughts turned around her head. Of course, Lucas would put everything behind – he was Lucas: The Good after all, the moral compass of the group, but if she was going to make up for it, Maya needed to think bigger.

"Don't worry, Gammy, I know exactly what I'm gonna do."

Her Gammy grins and with a pinch of her cheek (which gets an "Ouch" out of her) she gets up and says with a knowing glint in her eyes. "I'm sure"

* * *

"I didn't even know Lucas was running for a president." Mrs Friar complains as soon as she settles on the couch next to her. She had just finished making a tea for the both of them.

"I'm surprised he didn't tell you"

"I'm not," Mrs Friar admits with a sigh. "Lucas is always so afraid of disappointing the people he loves, and I tend to get a bit overexcited when he gives me good news"

"That's not bad" Maya tries to comfort her. "My mom forgets everything I tell her after five minutes" which was why she had given up talking to her about her problems..

"I'm sure your mamma tries her best. It's difficult, being alone." Mrs Friar pauses for a second, getting lost in her thoughts before remembering Maya was there. "Anyway, what can I help you with?"

"Do you happen to have a phone book with the numbers' of Lucas's friends from Texas?"

She receives a bemused look from the older woman who takes a sip before asking, "I do but I don't how that could help my son with the elections"

She had to be smart here

"Well, you see, Mrs. Friar-"

"Madi, darlin'"

She rolls her eyes and nods, "Mrs Madi-"

Madi snorts but nods her to continue with an amused smirk on her face. When she was like that, it was easy to notice the similarities between Lucas and his mother; they had the same smile.

"I heard him talking to his father the other day. He was pretty upset because he couldn't visit Texas or something-"

She was already started regretting her words when Madi's smile began to fade. "Lucas talked to you about his dad? I didn't know you two were that close" She whispered quietly, looking... sad.

Maya bit her tongue, already hating herself for what she had to do. "Yeah, we talked for a bit, Lucas is still not very comfortable about it."

Madi nods distantly, "Of course not, and the nerve of that man after everything he did!"

"Right" Maya shifts, glancing at her phone; Lucas's practise would end soon and she didn't want him to find her at his place.

"I'm sorry, Maya" She looks up surprised, but Madi had already gotten up and head started walking toward a small drawer. "I shouldn't let out my frustrations on you. I'm glad you and Lucas's are such a good friends though"

She returns back with a thick, brown, almost torn down, leather phone book.

"I'm glad too, Mrs Madi"

Maya is glad to see the smile back on the woman's face. "You'll never call me simply Madi, will you?"

She tilts her head to the side and gives a smirk of her own. "Unlike popular belief, I do have some manners."

Madi laughs and escorts her outside but not without reminding her to bring it back as soon as possible

"And good luck with the elections!" She calls from the doorstep.

Maya tips off an imaginary hat and shouts back, "Thank you ma'am"

* * *

Noah,

Asher

Dylan,

Mia

Isaiah

Jordan

Ethan,

Camilia

Elena

These were few of the many names the damned phone book seemed to have; Lucas's mom had highlighted the names of his friends with a red pen but frankly, there were too many

"Huh, who knew huckleberry was so popular"

Although it wasn't really that hard to imagine it, Maya was still surprised at the number of names. Despite the unfairness, she started with the boys considering how close guys usually are.

Noah and Asher were the first to pick up the phone. They had a hard time believing this was not a prank from the twins (Maya had no idea who they were ever speaking of) and it took her about twenty long minutes of talking about Lucas and his mom to get them to believe her.

Dylan didn't need convincing, having already talked to Noah and Asher, while Isaiah wasn't picking it up

She used her Gammy's laptop to make a group video chat, which lasted longer than Maya would have thought, and now she can only wait for the small videos to be sent to her mom's email so Maya can put them all together.

She glances down at the phone book, eyeing the names Jordan and Ethan with restless hands. It had slipped from Asher that these two were the twins; famous troublemakers who had a fallen out before Lucas left Texas.

Their cryptic explanation and their desire not to talk to the pair only increased her curiosity and made her all the more suspicious.

Maya doesn't know whether it started from the hesitation from Mr. Matthews when she asked questions, or whether Brandon's words had planted the seed of doubt in her head. Perhaps it was the unforgettable label, Mr. Perfect, which Lucas had written on his forehead during the Billy Ross drama.

She was unsure which moment was that it set things in motion, but she wanted to quench her curiosity

Maya dials the number

* * *

Riley bombards her with a hundred apologies the moment she steps inside her room.

Maya takes her sweet time to respond, allowing Riley to babble until her face becomes red from not taking enough air.

"It's fine, Riles" She chuckles, patting Riley's head who cuddles by her side. "I overreacted"

Riley pulls away for a bit and takes her hand, "I never want you to think I don't appreciate you. You're my sister, and I always wanted a sister."

It stings slightly less than before but at least there's some progress.

"I know you do, pumpkin." Her thumb strokes Riley's hands and Maya can't help thinking how odd it was that the person who hurt you so much the day before is able to make you feel content and happy just within few minutes.

She and her mother always shared more traits than Maya would have liked.

"Now, let me tell you about the plan I came up with..."

* * *

The gym is decorated with posters, ribbons, and white/red/blue balloons. Everyone is watching Mr. Matthews with anticipation and Maya tries to recall for a moment the last time her classmates had ever been this interested in their class presidency.

"We have a very important campaign commercial that everybody needs to see."

Mr. Matthews covers the microphone with his hands and looks between her and Riley with concern. "Maya, what are you doing?"

She wonders what's going on in his mind

"The votes are already in" He says louder so the kids can here. "This won't change anything"

"Yes, it will!" Riley insists, gaining a look of surprised from Mr. Matthews. Maya smiles at her, always loving it when Riley got all determined and stubborn. "It's about Lucas"

"Do you know anything about this, Mr. Friar? Is it okay with you?"

Lucas looks at them for a few seconds, hands in pockets and he gives a shrug.

"Yeah, I know about it. If that's the kind of friends they want to be then it's fine with me."

Riley beams next to her as she handles the CD to her father. She could be such a huge ball of energy most of the time, Maya should have known better than to think she could play it off cool.

"Maya?" Mr. Matthews says again and this time, she knows what he's asking; am I gonna regret this?

"Trust me, Mr. Matthews."

And by some miracle, he does.

* * *

Maya has never outright said she's friends with Lucas because it's not the sort of thing she does. It took years to admit aloud that she cares about Farkle, and even now she still wouldn't admit it in front of his face.

Nevertheless, she confesses to herself and herself only, that maybe she does care about the cowboy more than she would have liked to admit it. Perhaps she already values his friendship.

Because there's no other way to justify the relief and satisfaction that runs in her veins as she looks Lucas's expression; transforming from disappointment to confusion, from confusion to joy and at last astonishment.

Riley leans close to her and whispers. "Who are these people?"

"Huckleberry's buds from good ol' Texas"

"I didn't expect to see so many."

Maya shrugs nonchalantly and comments, "Prince charming was quite popular." She pokes her cheek, which gets a dreamy smile from Riley and she can see what Riley pictures; popularity, getting voted as best couple in the yearbook, becoming prom king and queen. Maya knows all of these are gonna happen eventually, she's just not looking forward to it as much as Riley does.

Unpredictably, Lucas wins after Farkle forsakes his position and stands by his friends. They all hug together as the gym starts to empty since the party is dying down and the excitement is over.

It's at this moment, with arms linked around each other that Maya feels completely and utterly happy. For once, she has done the right thing and boy, it feels good. Of course, Lucas had to go and ruin the moment by announcing which position belonged to whom. Farkle is to be Vice President – and the boy gives one of his as Maya calls them 'evil stares' that happen only when Farkle is either planning something devious or is thinking of world domination.

"Maya, I want you to be my secretary of state."

She stares at him for a moment, giving him a chance to back down. When he doesn't, she chuckles, "I'm nobody's secretary, Ranger Rick"

Lucas opens his mind to protest but a voice from behind them cuts him off. "Secretary of state is the president's ambassador to the world."

"I already know what it is!" Brandon doesn't believe her but he doesn't call her on the lie. Instead, he slides close behind her and even she feels a bit creeped out upon feeling his breath against her cheek. "You saw the cracks of the mirror." He murmurs, sounding smugly

"I'm not telling you anything," she mumbles, feeling uncomfortable as Lucas stared at her oddly from across the gym. Brandon had pulled her aside to question her.

He accepts her answer with surprisingly ease. "Alright. But you still own me for the recorder."

She remembers, "I told you, I'll pay it back!"

When she returns back to the group Riley is the one who asks what the rebel wanted which she replies that he wanted to comfort them for losing their elections. She momentarily distracts them by proposing an idea to Farkle. "How about the ambassador and the vice president team up to take down the big head?"

Farkle grins with maleficence, rubbing his hands together. "What do you want in exchange?"

"A city"

"Which one?"

"Washington"

"Done!"

"I think I might start regretting my decisions…" Lucas mumbles quietly and she grins

"Welcome to being a politician, huckleberry"

"Lucas," Riley finally talks after being silent for so long. Maya can see something is bothering her. "What about me, what am I to you?"

Lucas's face softens and he smiles gently at the brunette. He takes few steps close to the door before putting two fingers in his mouth, whistling sharply.

The horse comes slowly and-

Oh my God, she had forgotten the horse!

Unknown to her inner panic, Lucas gets on the horse and rides it smoothly – standing tall and straight as if he was Mr. Darcy – until he's in front of Riley who climbs over carefully with Lucas's help.

He calls Riley a princess and maybe Maya can forget everything she learnt yesterday. Because how could this seemingly prince charming ever be a bluebeard?

"You're staring" she pokes Farkle who hasn't taken his eyes off the pair.

"I-I was admiring t-the horse" He claims nervously, and Maya rolls her eyes, not truly believing him.

"…Sure"

Farkle changes the subject. "Don't you have a horse to return?"

Her eyes widen – and how can she keep forgetting the damn horse?! – before she runs off, chasing Riley and Lucas who seemed to have run off the sunset with the rented mare.

"Guys come back!"

* * *

Riley hated taking the subway – it took some time to admit it, considering all the fuse she had made about riding the subway with her – but Riley considered them dark and cold and dangerous - home to many deranged homeless. Riley was a sunshine and subways were under the ground. So, Maya is not surprised that her pumpkin jumped at the opportunity to avoid it; Auggie had some trouble with sleeping and Mr. Matthews had taken Riley to come up with some grand plan to make his son return back to his sleeping schedule.

Maya steps onto the subway and takes a seat next to an elderly black woman clutching a well-worn cloth bag on her lap. She was wearing a dress with a green and orange floral pattern and a little matching hat. She looked weary and half-asleep, and Maya felt sorry for her, riding the subway alone at this hour.

Anyone riding the train at this hour was either on the way home or for a night out. The people not gazing off into the space or reading had the usual stony expression she thought as the Subway Stare.

The subways were not the glamorous part of the city. Rich people might not use them, but real people did - the ones who were the guts and bone and sinew of New York, who always made the city run. Maya likes the subways, especially at night. They were mysterious and spooky. She loves the unknowability of the subway tunnels, miles of man-made caverns, steel and concrete arteries twisting through the bowels of the city.

She smiles to herself. The "glamorous" people weren't better than anyone else. All their Madison Avenue furnishings and expensive tans and name-brand cookware couldn't save them from real life problems, brought by some higher power. They might chase the wrinkles from pampered faces with Botox, and tone their sagging flesh through constant vigilance at the gym, but in the dark, everyone was the same.

She crosses her legs and turns her head to smile at the woman sitting next to her. She was one of the real people.

She looks down at the cup she had been holding, Maya had bought a drink as a gift to herself after everything she managed to pull off these days. The Matthews were the self claimed meddlers but it seems their habits had rubbed off her.

She wishes she could pull out and maybe a draw a portrait of the woman but it was not a good idea to sketch while riding the subway. The speed and the abrupt stops always messed her work.

Unwisely, she takes a sip. Her chocolate was still steaming. She could taste the sweet and pleasant hurt against her tongue but she was too impatient to wait for it to cool down.

She feels the weight being lifted from beside her before it comes again. It's guy, she can tell by his cologne.

"I'll admit I'm surprised I finally found you alone."

She swallows a bit too much and her tongue burns. "Damn it, huckleberry!"

"You should try blowing some air to cool it down"

As if she hadn't been doing that for ten minutes. "And you should keep your mouth shut!" she snaps, and Maya wishes she had brought a bottle of water. It would help with cooling down the ache on her tongue.

Surprisingly, he does. But when Maya takes a peak to the left, she finds him staring at her.

"Stop it"

He looks down at his shoes and she leans back to the seat. She looks out the window; everything was black and blurry, few yellow lights appeared sometimes at the train run.

Gingerly she tries to steal a peak only to find him staring at her again. "I said stop!"

"What did they say?" He asks quietly.

She doesn't understand. "Who?" she's still angry that he bothers her. She had been perfectly content before, couldn't he seat somewhere else?

"My mom told me to remind you to bring back the phone book"

Oh

Okay

"Apparently you were helping me with the elections. You were running with me." He chuckles humorlessly. "Mamma couldn't stop gashing about how sweet and considering it was of you."

Now, she feels defensive. "It was my way of making it up to you. Riley and I-"

"Riley had nothing to do with this. It was all you."

"Of course she-"

"She," Lucas cuts her off, rolling his eyes, "admitted it because she felt too bad for taking the credits"

Yeah, the sounded like Riley

"I called Asher after school," he continues "He asked if all New Yorkers were that crazy"

She snorts at that. "I'm probably the best thing that has happened to him in months."

"So…" He pitched his nose and stretched his feet. "How many stories did they tell you?"

"You have some good friends, huckleberry. They wouldn't tell me a thing"

He begins to smile, his face full of relief-

"Except your friends did tell me to not to call a pair of twins." She can almost hear him holding his breath. "That was a mistake, they should have used a reverse psychology. You know I couldn't help myself. They specifically told me not to, so I had to"

He swallows thickly, his face paling. "And…"

She uncrosses her legs, sitting up straighter, facing him. "They told me things that didn't match the you I know, but made sense at the same time."

"What things?" He asks in a low tone, his eyes remaining wide

She ignores the slightly shaking of his hands, or how his fingers were digging into his jeans. "Why did you move to New York?" She finally asks, tired of making assumptions

"My parents got divorce and my mamma needed a fresh start." There was no emotion in his eyes, she notices. He sounded like a broken record that was put on repeat. "She got a job offer in New York, so here we are."

Her eyes narrow and the chocolate no longer tasted good. She drinks it regardless.

"The person the twins told me about was this tough guy, who was a troublemaker, a prankster, someone who was constantly in detention and had average marks at school." She takes a deep breath, "Someone who didn't sound like you"

"Maya-"

"But then I remember how passionate Asher was with your friendship; funny, considerate, loyal to his friends… that's how he described you and I don't know who to believe. So, tell me, huckleberry, who are you?"

"I'm Ranger Rick!" He tells her desperate, his lips curling downwards. "Bucky McBoingBoing, Hop-Along, Sundance. The moral compass."

"Lu-"

"I'm Lucas: The Good," He says drily, shutting his eyes

With a frown, she grabs one of his hands, and she covers the tight fist with both of her hands, her fingers tracing his skin, making small circles.

"Lucas, it's okay."

"Please, Maya."

She doesn't know what he's begging her for; to stop, to leave it be, to forget it?

A part of her wanted to. To leave him off the hook, she wanted this conversation to remain here, in the half empty train. To leave the subway and go back to ranger roy and ha hurr.

But she remembers Riley from early evening, beautiful on the white horse, hugging the boy she was in love with tightly, a silly smile that was all Riley; beautiful and shining gracing her face.

She remembers the disdain that came from the twins, the bitterness and longing. Their obvious admiration, "He was kicked off school!"

And she recalls Brandon's words; a ticking bomb, a pretender, a fake.

Maybe Lucas wasn't a prince but it was okay because nobody could really leave up to Riley's high expectations. He could be the knight of the tale, forever protecting the princess and Maya wouldn't care, not as long as Riley was safe and happy.

But who was this person; the cowboy she had grown fond of?

She didn't care if he was a prankster, or a troublemaker (although they were all hard to believe) or if he had a short temper. What she cared about was that he wouldn't break Riley and Farkle's heart. The hearts of the two precious people in her life; her sun and her little bird.

"I won't judge," she reassures him with a half smirk. "You know I'm the last person who has any right to do that"

He opens his eyes, and even though they were glittering with tears they were still oh, so beautiful. "Then why does it matter? Why can we just drop it?"

"I love them, Lucas." She looks at him straight in the eyes, her voice strong and firm. "I don't let people in my life, and I sure as hell, I'm not letting anyone who could hurt them get into theirs."

He leans forward, keeping a steady eye contact. "You've known me for almost a year. You, guys are all my friends. I would never do anything to hurt any of you!"

He sounds angry and a bit offended which absolves her. Anger is a familiar territory, something she knows she can deal with.

"If you're telling me the truth then you'll tell me what happened in Texas." She insists, rising her chin

Lucas sighs, frustrating, his anger still there. "Why does it matter who I was? I've changed, I'm better and-"

"You can't just turn off the switch, Sundance." She cuts him off with a frown. "Grow as a person? Sure. But you can't just suppress whoever you were, that doesn't sound healthy."

He lips twitch upon hearing the familiar nickname, and his hand hold hers in a firm grip. She had forgotten she still had his hand.

"If I tell you, you won't tell anyone? Not even Riley?"

"Well, Riley did tell me not to tell her anything if I found some dirt on you so basically I'm just complying with her wishes."

The more she kept going, the more he frowned but nodded nevertheless and asked her. "And you won't see me any differently?"

She can't help it. She laughs at how ridiculous he is. Because of all things, he's concerned she might stop giving him nicknames? As if.

With her other free hand, she touches his faces, her thumb stroking his cheek – taking them both by surprise by the intimate act. "Oh huckleberry, whatever tough stuff you did in Texas you'll always be such a huckleberry."

"Promise?" At her nod, he starts telling her a story, his voice detached as if he wasn't talking about himself about himself. He speaks of this boy who couldn't take the pressure from his father and started lashing out at school. He talks of the fight he would get into, "Usually away from school ground where nobody could really stop me" how good it felt hear his fist cracking against someone's face. The energy and anger he had been holding into finally being released. "I felt wild, free"

He doesn't say anything about the issues he had and probably still has at home. Maya won't pressure him either because they're not close and his personal life has nothing to do with her, Farkle or Riley.

"And then Zay, he's my best friend but God, he has a big mouth." He describes the fights he started getting into for the sake of his best friend with such a detail, with such a passion that leaves Maya to wonder whether he missed it, even for a bit. She doesn't dare to ask though.

"One day, a kid took it too far. I was already upset so my mood didn't help either."

Fists colliding with one another, both boys at the hospital, being escorted out of the school, expelled and a long year of therapy; anger management.

"Wait, doesn't that make you, like, a year older?"

His laughs lights up the mood and the tension leaves his face. Even though she feels ridiculous and embarrassed– because of all the things she could ask, she chose to focus on that – Maya is glad to see him like this, with the cloud out of his eyes.

"I am, so you know what this means, respect the elderly."

"Don't tell me what to do, ranger rick."

His eyes gleam with something and his hands loosens – and why does she still hold his hand? "So, I'm still ranger rick?"

She wishes he sounded less vulnerable because it feels as if this moment is fragile, as if her words determines their future and Maya doesn't like having that weight on her shoulders, so she does what she does best; she jokes.

"As if you could be anything else"

He smiles at her and does something he has never done before.

He hugs her

It's weird because Farkle is still small in size and Riley though taller is thinner so it's definitely off putting to have two, strong arms wrapped around her waist. Her face pressed on his left shoulder and she's pretty certain his face is half buried in her hair.

She thought it would be a quick thing but when she shifts to move back, Lucas is still holding as if afraid the moment he'd let her go would cancel everything she had said.

"Thank you, Maya"

His breath tickles her cheek and she ignores the shivers that run down her spine. She gives up and rests her face on his shoulder until he feels ready to let her go.

When he finally does, his face is different. He's still the cute subway boy, still Riley's prince, and Farkle's knight, but there's something else in there; something that makes him so much more appealing now – more rough, more real.

Brandon was right there's a thrill at seeing a mirror break, and the cracks are beautiful.

* * *

**A/N**: A question for the future, do you mind multiple point of view? Because I'm thinking of adding Lucas's and Riley's but I don't want to upset anyone. I just believe it would give a better insight. What do you think?

Should I add someone else's perspective or should it be just Maya?


	4. Lucas I: Lone star

**A/N:** This ends a bit abruptly but you have no idea how many times I rewrote this chapter Also, If you're missing Girl Meets World then you should know I've started editing the characters and of course, lucaya on my insta page. I'll also make edits based on this story so if you're interesting check it out. I'd love to chat with you! My Instagram is **_xlonelydreamerx_**

* * *

Lucas's first impression of New York is that it's overcrowded, loud and it smells like a mix of piss and garbage.

After seeing glimmering lights, hearing loud car corns, and talking to rude people, Lucas knows from the moment he steps into his new apartment that this place will never feel like home.

Perhaps, he is close-minded because he has never in fact left to go anywhere out of Texas. Sure, he has gone on holiday's vocations to many different cities but they were all in Texas.

Nevertheless he doesn't dislike The Big Apple because of the overcrowdness. Austin, contrary to what his new friends believe is actually one of the largest cities in the United States, but it's not because of a lack of cows and open fields that make this new place still feel like a foreign country few months later.

Home, he had been instilled to believe since a young age, is where one's family is. Unfortunately, for him, he wasn't quite sure where that is anymore but it's certainly not New York.

Ever since he was a little, New York had been the dream; a secret place his mom would talk about when things got bad. When the yelling finally stopped, and after the harsh slam of the front door, his mom would come to his room – knowing very well if she didn't come to him he would go to her – and hold him tightly as she tried to calm down her breathing.

She would tell him stories of New York; how large and beautiful it was. "It's buzzing with life. You can create anything in New York, Lucas. Even yourself. You can build yourself up from scratch."

His mom had never stepped a foot in New York but she had been obsessing with it years before he was even born. She always had a scratch book – her fingers would gently be touching the old pages as her eyes would trail over the pictures she would find; a restaurant she would like to visit, a park she would like to go, a volunteering centre she would love to join. Post cards, sketches , stickers. The book had been her shrine, and Lucas would be lulled to sleep, dreaming of a magical place where anyone could go anywhere, where everyone could be anything .

He remembers asking once with closed eyes and heavy voice why they never went to New York if she wanted it so badly. Surely, if his father was allowed to go to business trips all the time why shouldn't they make a trip of their own?

"New York is a dream, darlin'" she had said with a kiss on his temple, her hand trembling as she ran her fingers through his hair. "You can't touch dreams"

He never got to know whether his response had been a part of a dream or whether he had spoke it aloud. His mother had never made a mention of it so he couldn't know. " I'll take you there one day"

By the time he turned nine, his mother had long stopped talking about New York and it was easily to believe that all their talks had been made by his childish imagination. He had never question it because by then, he had problems of his owns; his mother's quietness would always disturb him and make him unease, they had lost whatever closeness they had. Whether it was because he was focused more towards the drama from school or due to his father's expectations, Lucas wasn't sure.

His father had wanted him to be football star like the one he had once been, to get scholarship to some prestigious college and then return to Texas to live and die with a wife and three sons.

For the longest time, Lucas had thought if he tried his hardest to please him then life would be better but regardless his good position in the football team his father was still angry and distant and his mother was always sad and quiet.

His father had never cared about troubles at school because it was nothing unusual to plan pranks and get into fights; in his father's words "It's what makes him a man". His mother had a different opinion on this, although never voicing it; he could see her bitter disappointment when he returned home with bruises, detention and bad marks on tests.

He let himself be consumed with school, living ignorant of the troubles at home until two year ago, few months after his birthday.

He doesn't know how, when and why but somehow his mother had searched his father's phone and had accused him of having an affair during one of the rare times when they were all having dinner together.

To his credit, his father didn't bother with excuses, he ordered him to go up to his room and had a long conversation with his mother. There was no yelling, or crying and that was what had terrified him the most.

The new arrangement at home – less business trips, more family time, the sudden distance of his mom – had distracted him from everything; school, friends, football. Looking back now, Lucas really should have known better; despite being hot blooded, his father was a man who demanded perfection, order and respect. He was as harsh and unforgivable as winter.

Regardless of his temper and rage, his father had never raised a hand to either of them.

Until then

A punch meant evidence and evidence meant crime. People would point, gossip and talk. With that thought, New York was ironically more suited place for his father; nobody gave a damn about anyone here. During their first week, he had seen a man getting beat up in the street and his mother had harried to get them home.

The day his father punched him, was the day his mother snapped. She packed their stuff and took a hold of his hand as if he was a child once again and together they left their home disregarding all the threats his father shouted behind them.

If life were a movie, that would have been the climax and New York would have been the epilogue.

And it is.

Things get better

After his father's agreement to give custody to his mother, his mother had been happier. She now tries to do things with him again, to participate over chores, to talk. Lucas had never seen her so happy and it seemed like she really wanted to restart their lives.

He tries his best. Lucas doesn't have to be his father's soldier anymore but he can't help wanting to be his mother's southern gentleman. After the last incident in Texas, he had vowed to never let his mother down like that.

New York would be the city of dreams for both of them

* * *

New Yorkers are crazier than an outhouse fly

Cars hit bike messengers and the only thing that is exchanged is an almost passive "fuck you!", traffic signs are more like vague suggestions; cars just kind of.. go with what they feel, strangers really will curse you out in the middle of the street like it's their morning coffee, and on the subway a pretty girl snickers at him when he smiles at her

And it doesn't end there, she introduces herself, compliments him, flirts with him, start complaining, and then process to break up with him. All in the matter of ten seconds.

A little later a goofy brunette falls on his lap and when the two girls step out, Lucas realises he has missed his stop.

The blonde who is the definition of a true New Yorker; loud, rude, and obnoxious is in the same class with him and at her side there's the pretty brunette.

He joins them at lunch and Lucas might not know it yet but he has already fallen into the rabbit hole that it Maya Hart

* * *

Zay actually squeals when he tells him about his first week at school, about the pretty, sweet Riley, the extraordinarily intelligent Farkle ("yes, it's an actual name, Zay"), and the beautiful, fierce, Maya who seem to dislike him as much as horses hate draw reins.

Zay blubbers about a movie where a girl and a boy end up seeing each other every couple of years that has literally nothing to do with him and Maya and Lucas is pretty certain the girl even dies at the end. But Zay insists that Lucas has a crush on her and it takes him about a month – after they're done with their failing business to admit to Zay and to Asher over the phone that yes, Maya is beautiful, and fun and yes, he might harbour a tiny crush.

But it doesn't matter because she's still a girl wrapped up into a mystery. She's harsh and opinionated and has always this twisted need to be right (and the worst is that somehow she always ends up being) and he always has these feelings of making someone feel better and never disagreeing because disagree means upset and he doesn't like upset people. They couldn't be more different

And then there's Riley; sweet, clumsy, pretty, Riley who always gets goofy around him and she always makes him smile.

"My maaaan" Zay drags the word over the phone with a proud voice, "The Casanova!"

He knows Zays is teasing but it still bothers him, because he and Maya are hardly considered friends (despite muffin business, teasing, and shared secrets)

Sure, she constantly makes fun of him about his country heritage and he plays back because that's who he is now – Lucas Huckleberry Moral Compass Friar

But there are times like these, moments like now when he's so tired; tired of new York! Lucas, tired of not reacting, not yelling, not fighting.

It's good though, it make his mother happy, it makes him happy. It's who he's meant to be

With a sigh, Lucas lies down on his back on the roof of his apartment building, hands resting behind his head as he tries to make out the stars against the night sky. It was nothing like the night sky in Texas, it was much harder to stargaze in a city like New York. He honestly couldn't understand the people who spent their time on rooftops. He had come up here in hopes of getting distracted but it only stressed him out as he compared New York vs Texas.

A voice starts him, and if God is up there behind heaven then he's definitely unfair…

"Aw, cowboy got the blues again"

…because he's just sent him the devil

"Maya"

Standing few steps away from him with her blonde curls wild and messy from the wind, with a hand on her hips, the middle school girl is the only thing in his line of vision; the sight of her bright hair, colourful checkered coat and loose blue jeans make such a contrast against the dark that she almost looks like a Christmas spirit.

Lucifer was once an angel

She is the last person he would have thought to see at this time of the year and currently, she is also the last person he wants to see now.

Immediately, he feels a stab of guilt at his thoughts because she hasn't done anything to him to deserve his bitterness. She could have even dropped by to wish him Happy Christmas although he doubts it

"You can't see anything with all that smoke." She glances up at the sky before coming closer, settling herself comfortably right next to him. "Nothing like Texas, I bet"

At any other moment, he would have gulped at the sight of Maya Penelope Hart sitting so close to him, because despite her seemingly short size, her existence was large and her presence itself overwhelming.

"No," He sighs longingly, recalling all the clear sky with the bright tiny stars. "Nothing like Texas"

She doesn't say anything and Lucas's returns back to the sky, feeling saddened that even the few stars seem to be disappearing now.

"How come you're not at Riley's?"

The brunette had called him early in the morning to wish him Merry Christmas and Lucas had tried his best not to sound annoyed upon waking up so early. She had chatted with him for half an hour, telling him excitedly her plans to have dinner with her grandparents, her uncles, and Maya. Lucas hopes he hadn't sounded bitter when he told her to have fun. She had asked him about his plans, of course, and he had lied that he and his mom would be going out.

If they were in Texas, either all of his family would come at his house or he and his parents would go whoever the unlucky person was voted to hold the family dinner.

The host would serve for first dish a deep fried turkey and cornbread stuffing. His mom would make a pecan pie because out of all, her recipe worked out the best. His uncle, Buster, would smoke for 14 hours before Christmas dinner while sometimes Puppy Joe would come bringing enchiladas and tamales with him.

Everyone would stay for the night and the next morning they would drive 4 excruciating long hours all the way to Lake Palestine where all men would be fishing until midday, when they would have to drive back home. The funniest stories were created in Lake Palestine, like the one time Asher, Dylan and Zay had made a bet about climbing the tallest tree and they all ended up stuck at the top. It had taken three hours to find them and then two more to get them down.

The thought of his friends bring him regret for throwing away the pictures Zay had sent him of Zilker Park, which was home to Austin Trail of Lights for every holiday season. Every year, they had been allowed to stay out an hour longer, enjoying the food and the music festival.

"I thought my mom would have returned home by now so I left early but she's still at work and I forgot my keys so I'm stuck outside."

He finally turns to look at her. With Maya's mischievous and teasing personality, it was easy to forget the fact that she had a tough time at home.

He wanted to apologize, to say he's sorry because no matter how much she loves Riley she must have wanted to spend her Christmas with her mom. "Isn't your grandmother there?"

She turns to the right and he only needs to stretch his hand slightly to touch her. He doesn't though, he bets she'd punch him in the face. "She won a three days vocation in France. She participated in a contest that a radio held"

That's impressive. "Your grandmother knows French?"

"Nope. But that's what makes it fun." She pauses for a moment before asking in a serious tone. "What about you? I expected to see singing jingle bells under the tree, not hanging out here in the cold."

"My mom returned tired from work so we didn't do much." He understood that he couldn't demand her attention after a working day but his mom's absence only made him miss their old time at Texas more.

"So no trips in Texas, huh?"

He tries to catch her eyes but her face was unreadable. He was so good at reading people but Maya was an enigma to him. "I'll wait till summer," He says shortly, not wanting to continue this conversation.

She seems to catch on the message and nods. "Your friend, Zay, is a nagging bug."

The sudden change of subject caught him completely off guard. "What?"

She hums and he could have sworn there was a little smile on her face. "He's been calling me every day in the afternoon. I hung up after two minutes but he still calls the day after"

He closes his eyes, wishing once again this was all a dream, to wake up to his bed where everything was safe and nothing bad ever happened.

"I'm so sorry, Maya" he tells her sincerely. "I promise he won't bother you anymore"

She snorts and he looks up surprised. "Don't worry, hee-haw, he won me over yesterday."

His eyes narrow at the words and he feels panic at the thought of the things his best friend could be telling her. Everything Lucas had told him about her…

"And how did he do that exactly?"

"He sent me a basket full of treats."

It takes him longer than it should have to actually process this information. "Food?" he asks incredulous "Food is a way to win you over?"

He would have his mother make her famous pecan pie if he knew food was the way to get her to soften up.

"It's not like we're friends." Maya rolls her eyes and sits up, wrapping her coat tighter around her as the wind got wilder. "But Freaking Awesome snacks tasted like heaven and I need them in my life now"

He raises an eyebrow at that. "He sent you chips?"

She nods, "Jalapeno and caramel popcorn, praline Frosted Pecan Halves, jalapeno Cheese Straws…." She goes through a list and Lucas wonders just how much his friend even paid for a basket with so many things.

Damn it, Zay

"He talks a lot and asks weird things."

Oh God

"Like…" he prompts casually, shifting

"You, mostly…" she frowns, "today he asked about my hair. Whether it was blonde. When I told him that they were, he said 'I must be a beauty'. Seriously, I think he's worse than Asher."

That's it. He's gonna kill Zay

"What's wrong with Asher?" He asks, trying to distract her

It works. "He's too happy!" She whines, throwing back her head, trying to keep her hair away from her face. "Only psychopaths smile so much"

He chuckles at that and reminds her of her best friend. "There's a girl in our class named Riley-"

She rolls her eyes and cuts him off. "Riley's different; she's sunshine but even she gets clouds from time to time. Your buddy doesn't"

He opens his mouth to respond with witty comeback but he catches her shivering again and decides it's time to head inside.

"C'mon, I'll make us a cocoa"

"What, no more stargazing?"

He gets up and brushes off the dust from his body. He glances up, feeling an air of melancholy embracing at the sight of the starless sky.

"There's not much to see anyway"

* * *

There's something odd about having THE Maya Hart sitting and waiting on his couch. He almost feel like those ridiculous girls in teen movies, wanting to call Farkle and squeal; "Guess what, Maya Hart is at my house!"

He puts some extra marshmallows and returns with two mugs of cocoa and finds her gazing his half-decorated tree.

"We were out of decorations," he informs her as he settles one of the mugs on top of the table. He takes a seat next to her, their knees almost touching, and he swallows, unable to remember the last time they've been so close to one another.

Oh wait. He can.

The subway

He had wondered whether he had made a mistake but Maya had acted like nothing had changed, as if nothing had happened. Relieved, he had gone to find the Rebel who wasn't so good at hiding his surprise when Lucas had asked him what his deal with Maya was after remembering their closeness at the gym. The other boy had snorted, amused. "Easy harmonica, I'm not here to steal your girl."

After admitting, he was the one who came up with the idea of the recorder and Maya owned him money Lucas knew what he had to do. He went home and took out everything he had kept to the side for his next trip to Texas and gave it to the Rebel who had eyed the cash the next day before he finally accepted it with a roll of his eyes. "You and Hart deserve each other you know..."

"It's better than my own non existing tree." Maya's voice pulls him out of his reverie and he shakes his head, trying to focus.

"You guys haven't made one?

She shrugs. "No time or enough ornaments," she waves dismissively, leaning forward to grab the cocoa. "You didn't answer me what you were doing up there" she reminds him with a pointed look

"You didn't tell me about your time at Riley's either." He tells her, not really in a mood talk about himself.

"I told you it was fine. Uncle Boing was there, I got him all flustered-"

He rolls his eyes at that because he still doesn't understand her current obsession with Riley's uncle. And if was honest with himself, he didn't like the older boy that much either. He understood that he didn't want to be with Maya but there was no reason to treat her the way he did. Perhaps it was due to his southern roots or his mother's upbringing but if you have to reject someone, you might as well be clear and honest. Instead, Riley's uncle would always leave out a compliment here and there, a brunch of hope for Maya to hold herself onto before he process to ignoring her.

She shifts on the couch and slowly takes a sip of her of her hot drink, leaving a thin brown residue on her upper lip. "And I just met the famous Uncle Shawn."

He blinks, confused. Riley had told him anxiously about the uncle who never seemed to like her, which was absurd because Riley was so sweet and nice. How could anyone not like her?

"Turns out he does love Riley, He was even there when she was born. But she's also the reason he left. Because his friend now has a family and he doesn't really belong with them anymore. I thought it was stupid and cowardice because how on earth could you not stay with your best friend the moment he was at his happiest?" She sighs deeply with a frown as her eyes focused on nothing in particular. She was lost in her troubled thoughts. "But then Riley being Riley made us sit together and talk and he was interested in the style I was using for my drawings and I asked him about his travelling –because I always wanted to travel and I realised that Riley and her dad were right about how alike we were."

A hundreds of thoughts swam around his head but Lucas knows he should tread carefully. Maya was like a bull; in the face of potential anger, one should move slowly and carefully away to not piss it off

"And you think that's bad"

Her fingers fidget with the end of her shirt. "Riley always had that vision, you know, of me and her being roommates in college, houses next door to each other, best friends forever."

There's pain in her eyes and Lucas want nothing more than to comfort her the same way she had done for him few months ago on the subway, but she was clearly uncomfortable with hugs.

"It's just, when Riley marries her prince charming I…" she pauses her eyes linger on his face for a moment before continuing and he wonders what she saw. "I just wondered whether I'd end up like Shawn; leaving and then being nothing more but a memory saved for the holidays."

She looks down at the carpet as if intrigued by its square patterns, but Lucas moves and caps her chin, forcing her to look up. "Maya, I don't know anything about Riley's uncle, but I know you and Riley have one of the strongest bonds I've ever seen." He tells her confidently and honest. "And Riley would never allow you to walk away either way."

Her face cracks into a smile and he lets her go. "Riley would probably say I'm a wanted criminal so I couldn't get out of the city"

"And I would probably tie you with my rope."

She chuckles and smirks. "As if you can actually do any rope tricks to keep me in place."

He could tell her that he had actually participated and won a contest for best knots when he was a boy scout, but he holds back, knowing she would most likely end up using it against him in the future.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Sure," she replies quickly with a crooked smile. "If you let me drink your cocoa"

He chuckles and pushes the mug towards her direction. "Sure, go ahead"

She beams and grabs it, taking a sip and drinking it faster than she did with her own. The chocolate must have cooled down a lot.

He makes a note to make another one for next time since she seems to like it so much-

Wait, next time?

"What's in Washington?"

She swallows and moves back from the mug, wiping her lips to get the lingering chocolate off her. "Huh?

"Back when I made you my secretary." He reminds her unnecessarily. She probably remembers it but she wants to make him say it. That's how Maya works. "You proposed to take me down, for exchange of a city and you said Washington, which is a state by the way."

"Of course you'd remember that." She lets out an exasperated sigh before drinking the rest of the chocolate. "Frye Museum. It's a museum in Seattle and Farkle promised me in sixth grade we'd go there one day."

Something nags him and he frowns. He doesn't know why he feels annoyed and bothered all of the sudden. Farkle has made it more than clear that he's in love with both Maya and Riley and he's ready to date whichever girl falls for him first.

"That's… nice" he says lamely

There's an awkward pause and for a brief moment and there's an actual flash of irritation on her face, but it's gone as quickly as it came.

She gets up abruptly and his lips curl up into a smile at her sudden fierce look of determination. "Is everything alright?" he asks instead, lowering his mug, his eyes focused on her.

"No, nothing's okay!" she exclaims, throwing her hands up in the air. "It's Christmas and you were moping on the rooftop just few minutes ago, and now you're sitting comfortable on your couch like an 80 year old woman. Even my grandmother has more fun than you."

He laughs, puzzled but still amused. "What do you want me to do?" He had no idea where her sudden need of entertainment came from but he was willing to play with her. He was always up for Maya's little games.

"Something fun?!"

"It's late," He reminds her

"It's also the weekend," She crosses her arms and start tapping her left foot and Lucas could easily picture her throwing a tantrum as a child. He bites the inside of his cheek, lying back against the small pillows, relaxed. "What do you want me to do?"

She bites the lower part of her lips, her gaze darting around.

Was she nervous?

"We could hang out… at… my eh… house. I guess" She mumbles, through her teeth and he actually leans forward to make sure he head right.

"You want me to come to your house?"

"Your mom has fallen asleep watching Home Alone, you're my responsibility now." She says in defence, glaring at him as if somehow this was all his fault.

He smiles at her, shaking his head. "You don't have to suffer through my company, Maya. I'll be fine."

With a jolt, Lucas realises he wasn't lying; his mood was better. Perhaps all he had needed was the blonde devil to suck out his nostalgia and broodiness.

She presses her lips together, her expression turning from angry to thoughtfully, and too late, he questions whether she was the one who was in need of company. If that was the case he would join her in a heartbeat.

"Fine, then I'm leaving" She announces, grabbing her coat and putting it on hastily as she walked over the front door. "I can only hope nobody will try to mug me, or worse."

She was baiting him. He knew she did, because Maya would fight tooth and nail before she allowed anything close to her, but suddenly he could picture it because for all her protests, Maya was too short , her arms were too thin, she wouldn't really last long in a fight. Perhaps she could use her short height to her advantage to get away but if someone, stronger and larger tried to get her…

Surely, at this hour nobody would hear her calls for help. Hell, this was New York, even within the daylight nobody would help anyone.

The strong thud of the door snapped him out of his anxious thoughts and Lucas stares at the empty spot where the sort blonde used to be, dumbfounded.

"Maya wait!"

* * *

The last time he had been at Maya's house had been when Lucas had gone for trick and treat with Farke, but even then, they hadn't gone inside. They had interrupted the girls' sleepover for a quick scare and then had continued their quest for the best candies.

Now however, he can slightly understand Riley's irrational fear. The neighbourhood looks great during daytime but as safe, and it is, there's deathliness to the quiet. He could strangle some old man in the middle of the street and nobody would come outside to stop him.

They amble the streets thirty minutes to get there on foot but Lucas doesn't complain. When they turn around the corner Maya's apartment comes to view, he asks. "Didn't you say you had forgotten your keys?"

"There's another way"

He follows quickly after her as she headed towards a window which he recognises it as the one he and Farkle stopped by the last time.

"I was relying on you unlocking it"

His brows furrow in disbelief at her response and he shakes his head. "I don't know how to unlock it from the outside. I'm not a thief!"

"Oh yeah?" She cocks her head to the side and gives him a playfully smile that can only mean trouble. With a step closer, she taps her finger to his chest and he almost gulps. "Because one little Texan birdie told me about the time the two of you tried to steal the answers for a math test by breaking into the class."

Perhaps his best friend didn't know it, but Zay was a dead man walking

"That was different," He protests weakly but moves forward to examine the window.

"Sure, sure"

He looks at the rusty clap and traces it with his fingers; it was old and probably fragile.

"It was a bet." He feels the need to defend himself because he doesn't want her to think less of him. "I didn't even go through it."

"Because the two of you fell asleep"

Damn it, Zay!

He pushes the window up with all the force he could master and with a loud noise, it snaps wide open.

Maya moves from behind him and climbs through the window with easy. Once she's inside, she leans forward and gazes at the window before she looks up to him. "I'm pretty sure you broke the lock, Bob: The builder"

He eyes up at the window doubtfully, "I can fix it tomorrow for you"

She dismisses his offer with a roll of her eyes and gestures with her hand for him to come inside. "Are you gonna stay there standing tall and still like a tree or what?"

The window was already small enough as it was; there's no way he could fit. He looks back at Maya who taps her foot impatiently. "I don't think that will work-"

"Try"

He immediately crouches down at her snap, not wanting to anger her any further and raises his right leg to put it inside. Maya takes a step back to give him more space and Lucas crouches lower and squishes his shoulder against the window. At last, with a huff he manages to get inside.

Maya grins and claps from behind him, congratulating him. "Welcome to my room, hope-along, where the magic happens. And by magic I mean nothing."

She flicks on the night and for a second he's blinded by the brightness. Once his eyes adjust he immediately scans out her room. It's nothing like he had imagined it; dark with posters, filled with angsty artists and drawings. Instead the walls are pastel lilac and the room is almost bare, empty. It did not feel like Maya at all.

Still though, he feels like a girl, wanting to squeal at the world: I'm in Maya Hart's bedroom!

"It's nice" He tells her lamely, his eyes focusing on a desk where a hundreds of papers were scattered carelessly; it's the only part of the room that's messy. The rest is considerably clean.

She shrugs off his compliment, "It's alright. C'mon, let's go to the living room."

He wishes they could have stayed longer. As empty as it was, it was still her bedroom, the room that was a representation of who she truly was. Nevertheless, he follows behind her with no protest as he shuts her door gently behind them.

There's a small corridor with two rooms on the left and an empty space on the right. They don't really stop as they walk to the right where a staircase is located but Maya informs him carelessly that the bigger room is where her mother and grandmother sleep together and the smaller a bathroom which they all share.

Back in Texas they had two bathroom because his father hated waiting each morning for either his mom or himself to get ready, and although they had now settled down nicely with one he can't imagine living in Texas with one bathroom.

At the bottom of the stairs, he can see a small kitchen, which is a bit further while on the right there is the living room that is surprisingly larger than he would have thought. Perhaps it's due to the lack of decoration but it looks and feels bigger, emptier somehow. Or perhaps he has already gotten used at seeing Christmas lights everywhere he went.

Maya tells him to wait for her on the couch while she heads to the kitchen, and he sits awkwardly on the corner as if afraid he would ruin anything he touched.

He still couldn't get over himself; he was in Maya Hart's house

She returns with two dark glasses and something plastic in her hands. "I don't have marshmallows but the chocolate is still good" He takes one from her hands, trying a taste and immediately he thinks his own is better but Lucas knows better than to voice it out.

The small plastic thing turns out to be a tiny fake Christmas tree and when Maya presses on the button, it shines green light. The tiny fake tree compared to the naked house made a quite depressing image.

"There." Mays announce proudly, placing the plastic tree in front of them. "Now, you won't lose your Christmas spirit and Santa will still visit you."

At her mocking tone, he grins back and resorts, "I'll make sure to convince him to take you off the naughty list."

Her lips curl up for a brief second but he doesn't get the pleasure of seeing her smile, instead she walks over the television, kneeling in front of it and after few minutes the usual paragraph for copyright purposes appear on the screen.

"We're watching a movie?" He asks, surprised. The night couldn't get any weirder. He felt off balance, as if he had entered the twilight zone.

"I can't let you head back home alone," she reasons, her back still on him as she played with the movie's settings. "You could get lost in the street and your mama would tar and feather me."

"For your information I haven't gotten lost in New York not even once." He brags proudly, his back straightened up "I have a good sense of direction after years of camping"

"Aw, I already see it; sleeping in a tent, roasting food in the fire while playing with a compass. Aren't you a good little camper," she coos with a ridiculous stereotypical accent, dragging each word with a heave drawl. Once she's done, she gets up and falls down on the couch with a huff.

"I have to be." He claims, uncrossing his arms "New Yorkers aren't helpful to new comers. In Texas the hospitality is much better"

"Look huckleberry, a word of advice. When we – New Yorkers – see a tourist in Manhattan with an air that says Don't mess with Texas we treat this the same way we would treat a raccoon that has wandered into a liquor store; mostly harmless, keep an eye on it, it will probably leave soon."

"You just compared me to a raccoon…" He says aloud to ensure himself he had understood correctly.

Her lips twitch but instead of responding Maya take the tv controller and presses play before relaxing back to her seat.

The title 'Halloween' appears on the screen and really, Lucas isn't surprised or bothered that Maya didn't pick a Christmas related film. Still, he can't bite his tongue, "Michael Myers Maya? Really?"

"Don't worry, lone star. I'll be generous and hold your hand if you get scared"

A wave of annoyance hits him; why did she always have to underestimate him? "I don't get scared of horror movies, Maya."

She doesn't take her eyes off the screen as a young Michael Myers murders his sister who was supposed to babysitting him. "Farkle told Riley and I about your attempt to watch the Saw movies and you both ended up watching Lion king instead"

Lucas wanted to scream; why couldn't his best friends keep their mouths shut around the blonde? Were they fooled by her sunshine hair, her sky eyes, or her short delicate looking size? Couldn't they see she was the she-devil when it came to him?

"First of all, there's nothing wrong with a Disney classic, and second, Saw isn't even an actual thriller. I don't get how people can stand these movies. I mean who likes to watch people get tortured besides perverts?"

Maya shrugs but replies thoughtfully. "The movies have a bit of morale in them with the whole 'If you don't appreciate life then you don't deserve it' thing', so they're not completely pointless but I agree that the overall plot is not even that good. Definitely not worth the hype."

He's pretty certain that's the longest she has ever spoken with him. "So I take it you've watched them"

"I had a movie marathon with Riley last year," she grins and her eyes gleam as if recalling the memory. "She still gets nightmares about it from time to time."

He wasn't surprised at that. Riley definitely seemed more of the type to appreciate romantic comedies than horror or thrillers.

They went back to the film and Lucas discovers that watching with Maya is a completely different experience. Somehow he had this idea, she would be of those people who would complain about the scenes; instead she makes small comments about the characters during unimportant scenes.

"If Michael was locked up his whole life, how the hell did he learn to drive?"

"At his pace even my ferret could have attacked him by now"

It was nothing like Farkle's constant need to correct every unrealistic little thing. And it was surprisingly not annoying.

They talk a little about it during the movie and then analyse it further after the film is over. They debate about the message of them film which he believe is about the main character's deep desire to recreate his first murder. While Maya argues the message is about those that choose to ignore their responsibilities are punished.

it amazes him how he doesn't seem to know Maya all that well. It's like he developed this idea about her and came to some quick inclusions on her personalities and mannerism but she's managed to surprise him.

Her mother returns home at some point when they're almost half asleep on the couch and she leaves a message to his mother's phone that he'll sleep over there.

Mrs Hart who insists to be called Katy, prepares the couch and wishes him goodnight after she's done.

His biggest surprise however is when Maya comes to him, this time changed in some cute leopard pyjamas to give him a pillow

"Tonight was…fun" she admits reluctantly with a faint smile

"Yeah it really was" He agrees with a grin. "You made up my night"

He lies down on the sofa and shifts until he feels comfortable enough with his pillow. Tonight he realises he wants to get to know Maya better because there's definitely more to her than the nonchalant teaser she appears to be.

* * *

**A/N:** If you're missing gmw I've started editing the characters and of course, lucaya. I'll also make edits based on this story so if you're interesting check it out. I'd love to chat with you! My Instagram is __xlonelydreamerx__  
Also, did you like Lucas's point of view? If you have any advice about how I could improve his characterisation, please let me know


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